


Playing With Fire

by Peryton



Series: Soul Games [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-23
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 21:04:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8117563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peryton/pseuds/Peryton
Summary: Continuing on from Branded By You, during the 74th Hunger Games Johanna had finally found her soulmate. She never expected there to be a happily ever after for the two of them but against all expectations the girl from Twelve survived the Arena, and she managed to do what none of the past victors had ever managed to do in the process, she beat the Capitol at its own game as she did it. But when the tributes for the 75th Hunger Games are reaped from the victors of past Games Johanna has another fight on her hands to keep her soulmate alive. 
And to make matters worse, in the eyes of the Capitol Katniss and Peeta are still the fairy tale couple who beat the odds and won the Games, proving true love can triumph after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been forever I know, I’m sorry.

Johanna’s gaze swept up the body below her, lingering over the expanse of golden skin that was laid out before her. The younger victor’s hands were tangled in the sheets, knuckles white from gripping them so hard, Johanna looked up at Katniss’s face and her still closed eyes and smirked. Johanna placed one last kiss on Katniss’s body causing her to twitch before collapsing beside Katniss with a satisfied grin.

 

As Johanna laid back beside the younger girl her hand went to trace the soulmark bearing her name, the same soulmark that when she finally rid Katniss of her clothes she had barely been able to leave alone, continually finding a reason for soft touches and biting kisses before the eventual pleading -and later threats from Katniss had forced Johanna to continue with what she had promised, with what every laboured glance and stolen touch had been leading to. Johanna sighed contentedly, relaxing into the warmth of having her soulmate by her side and closed her eyes –only to be woken by a loud crash. Johanna shoots upright in bed, still disorientated and thinking she’s at Katniss’s she takes a while to realise the sound that had woken her was just trees being felled, Johanna rolls her eyes at herself, she had been so involved in the dream she had forgotten the most frequent sound she had heard while growing up.

 

Once Johanna wakes enough to realise she’s back in Seven –alone- she groans and tries to distract herself from her dream by getting dressed for the day. Johanna doesn’t know why she bothers though; she’s in no mood to see anyone today. If she goes up to the forest it will be to take her frustrations out on the trees, not to help the loggers as she sometimes does to keep herself in shape and help stave off the boredom. Plus it’s not like they really have that much help down there anyway, the Capitol still refuses to make it safer for the lumberjacks and there’s a serious shortage in uninjured experienced people in Seven. Blight once tried to petition the Capitol for better equipment and more reasonably targets for the workers but like everything else that went up against the Capitol it was quickly shot down in flames. However as much as Johanna tries to avoid it her mind keeps drifting back to Katniss while she moves around her house.

 

Johanna’s sleep had never been restful, she had her own Games and the loss of her family to thank for that, but since leaving Twelve she seemed to be having an even harder time of it. It’s been too long since she’s last seen Katniss, they had a few blissful months when they could finally be together, when Katniss relaxed her guard enough to admit to Johanna that they wanted the same thing and the two of them fell into a relationship with as much grace as they did everything else, with fire and passion and arguments and fighting and everything in between. And Johanna had believed that she was finally going to have something _good_ , something the Capitol couldn’t take from her. Then Haymitch had suggested that Johanna go back to Seven since Katniss was having enough trouble with acting like she was in a relationship with Peeta as it was. And since Johanna never had been one for travelling and making friends with other victors it was –in his words, ‘ _confusing_ for the propos’, and drawing too much unwanted attention from the Capitol. Since then all Johanna has had to console herself with has been her dreams, her subconscious constantly playing the memories that she and Katniss had made together in Twelve. Each night Johanna is so lost in her dreams she wakes up confused and disorientated, forgetting for a few minutes that she isn’t lying next to her soulmate only to have reality crash back leaving Johanna haunted by past memories of her time with Katniss in Twelve.

 

Johanna put her coffee pot down particularly hard on the counter and scowled at the memory of Haymitch essentially kicking her out of Twelve, because it wasn’t like the propos could make whatever message they wanted from the footage they had of the victors in Twelve, and of course Katniss had taken on Haymitch’s ‘suggestion’ as though it was the only way to do things. Oh, how Johanna hated that bastard. And no doubt the bread boy had had something to do with her decision, Johanna had been around when Peeta had suggested he move into Katniss’s house in victor’s village but Johanna had soon vetoed that idea. Vetoed it and threatened to split Peeta’s head open with her axe if he came within five feet of Katniss when there wasn’t a propos camera or Capitol official around. Panem knows what Katniss would have done if Johanna hadn’t been there to argue against it, Katniss was always too quick to put other’s desires and wellbeing before her own, hell she had _volunteered_ for her Games. You didn’t need any more proof than that that the girl had serious problems when it came to ensuring her own survival.

 

So while Katniss and Peeta played at being the young couple in love while the attention was still focused on them from winning the last Games Johanna was back in Seven quickly driving away even Blight who had put up with her moods for years. Johanna is still sat in her house taking her frustration out on her breakfast dishes when the projector screen starts up, coming to life on its own causing Johanna to jump, she had forgotten about the mandatory viewing of the Capitol propos that they had scheduled for today. The brunette gets up to leave but the screen shows Katniss and she pauses, frozen between wanting to avoid whatever the Capitol have planned for the viewers and needing to see Katniss. She hasn’t seen the victor from Twelve in so long, talking sporadically on the phone is no substitute, especially when neither of them can say what they really want for fear of the Capitol listening in.

 

Katniss is bundled in winter clothing, the discrepancy in weather between Seven and Twelve just serves to remind Johanna just how far it is between their two districts, it’s cold in Seven but there’s no snow on the ground yet, Johanna’s eyes are fixed on Katniss so she doesn’t notice Peeta has also emerged from his house opposite until Katniss slips on the snow and lands on Peeta. Katniss kisses Peeta and Johanna clenches her fists.

 

“So, how’s it going?” The Capitol interviewer asks.

“We’re good.”

 

Johanna rolls her eyes at Peeta’s anticlimactic reply, even she would have said something better than the propos than that, well, she’d probably have said something inflamatroy but that’s why she wasn’t the Capitol’s darling. Panem knows why Haymitch wanted Johanna out the way to help Katniss’s focus if bread boy couldn’t even be trusted to come up with something better than ‘we’re good’.

 

“Things are great here in Twelve.” Peeta continues after an awkward pause,

“Thanks to the generosity of the Capitol we’ve never been closer.” Katniss answers with a saccharine smile that makes Johanna want to break something with the obvious falseness of it all.

Literally, Johanna grumbles to herself.

“Twenty five yards to be exact.” Peeta says at the same time.

 

Johanna scowls at the two of them making comments that are in any way similar, the last thing she wants is to be like bread boy.

 

Eventually the projector screen shuts itself down and Johanna is left to her own thoughts again. The brunette is angry with the stupidity of the camera operators, and with everyone in the Capitol and the Districts watching and believing this crap. Can’t they tell Katniss would never act like this? Not with _him_ anyway. And not with her the tiny voice in the back of her mind that had nothing to weaken it while Johanna had been separated from Katniss, while she had witnessed Peeta eagerly stepping back into his role as the hero in the star-crossed lovers’ story.

* * *

 

Seeing Katniss and Peeta on the propos makes Johanna even more of a hermit over the next few weeks, Blight had come round a few times and Johanna had driven him out just as quickly. Johanna is sat on the floor in her house shaving away slivers of wood from a block that was intended to become a –well, Johnna wasn’t sure what she had originally intended to make the piece of wood into right now she was content to focus on simply cutting it down and watching the shavings fall over the floor. A loud knock brought Johanna’s gaze away from her task but she didn’t move from her position on the floor.

 

“Go away Blight.” Johanna shouted. The knocking stopped, and Johanna hacked at the wood in her hand particularly fiercely, wondering if she could she even pretend she was still whittling it at this point when she heard her door open. “That is the exact opposite of going away.” She muttered to herself looking up at the person that had let themselves into her house. “What are you doing here?” Johanna asks angrily.

“You know what’s weird,” Haymitch said as he looked around her house unimpressed, Johanna resisted the urge to pick up the objects he was looking at, Haymitch could hardly judge her accommodation she’d seen the dilapidated and alcohol soaked place he lived in, at least Johanna had decent furniture, not the crappy flimsy stuff the Capitol had put in the place.

“Blight actually cares about you,” Haymitch continued ignorant of Johanna’s thoughts. “Even with your consistently less than sunny disposition and sarcastic attitude he still cares. You beat on him, scream at him and he still wants to check up on you, make sure you’re all right –or as right as we can be after the Games. He’s a better friend than you deserve Mason. Panem knows you wouldn’t do the same for him, yet here he is, still caring... That’s rare in victors, most of us gave up on caring after our first kill in the Arena, and if that didn’t end it a few years of training children and watching them get slaughtered for the Capitol were sure to do it, we had to do it to keep what little sanity we still had. So imagine my surprise when Blight called me up, yelling at me, demanding-”

“Blight doesn’t yell.”

“He did then.” Haymitch replied wryly still watching Johanna with that annoying appraising look of his. “And considering your usual demeanour I figured you had to be acting pretty damn awful that Blight was concerned and wanting to know what had happened in Twelve to make you so depressed and angry.”

 Johanna didn’t reply, trying to let her glare speak for her, Haymitch knew her reasons to be annoyed more than most, hell it was mostly his fault.

“You have no reason to be angry Johanna, I didn’t expect you to be completely adult about it but you know how the Capitol works, how the Games work.”

Johanna scoffs at that and goes back to carving chunks out of the piece of wood in her hand, wishing she hadn’t chosen to sit on the floor giving Haymitch so much more height over her as he stood looking down on her. Haymitch watched Johanna for a while, before realising she wasn’t going to be any help furthering the conversation and he let out a long suffering sigh.

“The Capitol are always broadcasting our private moments for all to see, they never realise their own technology can be used against them.” Haymitch said as he pressed a button and a hologram of one of the rooms in a victor’s house appears.

“This is in all our houses?” Johanna asked furiously, glaring at the scene before her. It could have been anyone’s house, the Capitol used the exact same template for all the houses in the victor’s villages, she had thought it was only the ones in Seven before she visited Twelve and saw Katnisss’ and Haymitch’s were also exact replicas of hers and Blight’s, well, aside from rather fewer axe marks than hers.

“No, this is something I asked a friend to do for me; I thought we might need it if Snow decided Katniss was too dangerous.”

“Dangerous? She’s –”

“You saw her tour; the peacekeepers killed someone who saluted her. In plain view of everyone in the District and Panem knows how many watching the mandatory propaganda on huge public screens in their own Districts.”

“…I only saw a glimpse, it wasn’t really clear what happened then the propos cut to older footage of them with Caesar and the winning ceremony.”

“They keep underestimating her Johanna; you can bet that won’t be the case now, not after what you see here.”

 

Haymitch presses another button on the controller and a projection of President Snow appears in Johanna’s house. He looks around the room as though he was really there and Johanna feels a sinking feeling, if there was any doubt about whose house Haymitch was showing her before this eliminates it. Just as Johanna had feared Katniss soon enters the projection, being led into the room in her own house by a guard. Katniss stops as soon as she sees Snow, Johanna can just make out a fuzzy smaller hologram that Snow is showing Katniss, it’s of Katniss and Johanna appearing in an alley, one is pulling the other but from the grainy image it isn’t clear which.

 

Johanna clenches her jaw, grinding her teeth as she realises exactly what Snow is showing Katniss, a moment between the two of them she had thought was private is just another weapon the Capitol is using against her. Johanna had argued with Katniss about her relationship with Peeta in the Games, what had started out as Johanna’s usual way of communicating through teasing and half-insults had escalated into something more. She hadn’t meant to at the time but she was still insecure about what Katniss and Peeta were to each other, still was now in fact, and being apart from her while Katniss pretended to be madly in love with the bread boy wasn’t helping. Katniss had kissed Johanna, knocking the breath from her lungs and all thought from her head, it had been extremely effective in shutting up the elder victor Johanna thought wryly.

 

“I did what I had to do to survive.” Katniss had said still pressed against Johanna, her hands in the collar of her coat, holding the victor from Seven still although she hadn’t tried to move. “If I didn’t I’d be dead.” The small picture of Johanna drops her gaze from Katniss and the victor from Twelve recaptures her lips in another bruising kiss.

“Such bravery, such spirit. Such contempt.” Snow says to Katniss who is still watching the smaller picture within the hologram Johanna is being shown.

“President Snow, what an honour.” Katniss replies dryly, looking defiantly up from the hologram showing her and Johanna to look Snow in the eyes.

Johanna feels a twinge of pride at the act of boldness from her soulmate, this is the fire that saw her through the Arena and she is still displaying it even faced with the very embodiment of everything the Capitol stands for.

“My dear I think we can make this so much simpler if we agree not to lie to each other, don’t you?”

“Yes, I think that will save time.”

“I have a problem Miss Everdeen, a problem that began the moment you revealed those poison berries in the Arena. If that Game maker Seneca Crane had any brains at all he would have blown you to bits then and there, but here you are, and I expect you can guess where he is.” Snow said calmly, unafraid of showing what the Capitol and he is capable of to Katniss now, she’s been in the Arena she knows how little he values the lives of people in the Districts.

“Yes I think so.” Katniss replies steadily.

“And after that fiasco there was nothing left to do but let you play out your scenario, you were very good, that whole love-crazed besotted school girl routine. Impressive. Truly. You convinced the people in the Capitol. Unfortunately not everyone in the Districts fell for it. You can’t know this but in several of them people viewed your little trick with the berries as an act of defiance, not of one of love.”

“Why don’t you just kill me now?” Katniss questions and Johanna’s eyes dart back to the door where the guards had led Katniss into the room, half expecting Snow to do just that, so caught up what she was seeing that she had forgotten this recording was probably weeks old and she would have heard before now if Snow had done anything to Katniss.

“I don’t want to kill you. I want us to be friends, but if not friends then allies. I think you’ll find this preferential over the alternative. If you are wondering what the alternative could be, what I could do to you that hadn’t already been done in the Arena,” Snow began softly but his voice quickly grew stronger and as close to anger as Johanna had ever heard the President who preferred to remain ice cold and above everyone else in everything, including emotions. “You should imagine thousands upon thousands of your people dead. This town of yours reduced to ashes. Imagine it gone. Made radioactive, buried under dirt as if it had never existed, like District Thirteen. You fought very hard in the Games Miss Everdeen, but they were Games, would you like to be in a real war?”

“What do I need to do?”

“When you and Peeta are shown in the Capitol again you need you to smile, you need to be grateful, but above all; you need to be madly prepared to end it all in love with him.”

“I’ll convince them.” Katniss replies and Johanna feels her stomach drop.

“No. Convince me. For the sake of your loved ones.” The screen within the hologram has stopped its endless loop of the two of them kissing in the alley and is frozen on a close-up of Katniss and Johanna embracing.

 

“So you see?” Haymitch said breaking the silence that had fallen over the room once the projection had finished. Johanna stared dumbly at the frozen image, still taking in everything she had seen when Haymitch continued, “Katniss is too important for us to lose her now and for something so foolish. You have to let her go Johanna, at least for a while, the announcement for the 75th Games will be soon and the Capitol will have something new to fawn over,”

“You think it’s foolish?” Johanna interrupted,

“I think two people could be happy for a time, until the Capitol got their claws into the relationship –and that’s if they didn’t want you hanged for breaking up love’s young dream- or you could be patient and intelligent about this and we can make a few million people happy.”

“What _are_ you talking about?” Johanna asked annoyed.

“You’ll know soon enough.” Haymitch said enigmatically.

 

Johanna rolled her eyes at that, she was sick of Haymitch and his new secretive attitude, it half made Johanna miss the drunk he had always appeared to be whenever Johanna had met him at the other Games.

 

“I’m guessing you’re not going to play the gracious hostess and invite me to stay a while, maybe offer up some of the whisky I know you’ve got hidden away here somewhere?” Haymitch asked half-heartedly.

Johanna raised an eyebrow “You guessed correctly.”

 

Johanna watched Haymitch leave with a sinking feeling that was almost hidden under the layer of anger she felt at being manipulated by Haymitch, Johanna had thought she had left that behind her when she finished her Games, after her family had died there was nothing left for her to fight for. Johanna had seen her soulmark as a weakness then, but when she had actually seen Katniss, first on the giant screen at the reaping for the 74th Games and then in person and she couldn’t not fight for this girl. For the first time in a long time Johanna had someone, she didn’t have to be alone, and she couldn’t understand why Katniss didn’t feel the same. Well, she kind of did, Katniss was younger and still in the midst of her own Games, and she still had her family to try and protect. But that didn’t mean Katniss’s decisions to avoid her, or keep up the pretence with Peeta when she _knew_ about Johanna didn’t hurt.

 

And now Katniss and she were further apart than ever. She just had to wait for the announcement of the next games though, the next reaping. Then they’d have some time to themselves without the Capitol watching over their every move, and once there was a new victor for the Capitol to parade out to show everything was continuing as normal after the shock of having two victors from the last Games, that they were still completely in control, maybe Haymitch would get off her back about spending time in Twelve. Johanna thought, feeling a twinge of guilt that she was actually looking forward to the next Games.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited chapter slightly  
> Started off maybe a little differently than you might have expected, but I don’t think we’ll have much time for romance during this and I wanted to let them have at least something.  
> So way more people than I expected liked the last one. And I guess I didn’t want to have people who liked the previous fic start reading this and think it was crap so hope this isn't too far away from what you thought it might be. But hey, I’ve started so I’ll finish.


	2. Chapter 2

Johanna sat on the podium looking down at the scared faces of the potential tributes from Seven, all waiting for someone’s name to be pulled from the bowl, hoping it would be a friend instead of them. Johanna looked at the empty bowls at the front of the platform; usually they are already filled with slips of paper at this point. The names of children already waiting inside for the Capitol escort to pick from but instead Johanna can’t see anything, perhaps someone has messed up their job, or maybe now there will be a ceremonial ‘pouring of the names into the bowls’ to add some unnecessary tension to the proceedings.

 

Snow’s usual announcement starts up and Johanna feigns interest in it while trying to distract Blight from his ‘professional’ face when in the midst of Johanna leaning back and kicking the side of Blight’s chair some of what Snow was saying seeped into her awareness and Johanna realised this wasn’t his usual pre Games speech.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen this is the 75th Hunger Games.” Snow begins theatrically, “it was written in the charter of the Games that every 25 years there would be a quarter quell to keep fresh for each new generation the memory of those who died in the uprising against the Capitol, each quarter quell is distinguished by being given a special significance. Now on this, the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Rebellion we celebrate the third quarter quell as a reminder that even the strongest cannot overcome the power of the Capitol.”

 

Johanna frowns at this, is Snow letting his emotions out for once -well, as much as he can, and threatening Katniss in his speech? Why would he do that and let people know the girl from Twelve has gotten to him? And how does that fit in with what he’s saying, how can he take the ‘strong’ for the quell, is he going to ignore the teserrae and go after the few wealthy people in the Districts? Not that that would serve as much of a hardship for most of the people in the Districts, most of the people running the various industries in the Districts originally came from the Capitol and aren’t well liked by the people who have to endure hours of labour so their families don’t starve. Maybe he means the victor’s families?  Although hardly any of the victors had any family to speak of… Johanna’s thoughts trailed off as Snow continued with his speech.

  

“On this, the third quarter quell the male and female of the tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of victors in each District.”

 

Johanna laughs, she can’t help it, of course this was what Snow had planned. Of course surviving one Games, coming out of the Arena once wouldn’t be enough. Of course they would go back on their word that the victors were safe, you couldn’t trust the Capitol. And this is the perfect way for Snow to show Katniss that she is nothing more than the young girl she was before her Games, to show the rest of the Districts she and all the other victors are powerless against the Capitol. Johanna laughs harder, almost unable to remain standing and she can feel tears in the corner of her eyes,   

 

Johanna gets in control of herself enough to look at the people around her, Blight looking stunned, Jingles is confused and unsure of what to do. Johanna understands now why the bowls on the stage looked empty, Seven only has two victors, Blight and her are going back into the Arena.

 

Eventually things settle down, Johanna had no intention of doing anything other than waiting to be sent back to the Capitol, she’s not an idiot, she can see the peacekeepers are noticeably tense, and now Johanna is looking for them she realises there’s more peacekeepers at the ceremony than usual. All gripping their weapons as though they expect her and Blight to attack them, or for the members of District Seven to rush onto the stage. Johanna looks back out at the assembled people from her District, most are still looking a combination of confused and shocked, there’s a lot of muttering but no one seems up in arms about the announcement. And why would they, they’ve been given a reprieve from watching their children die for a year, maybe some would be upset about Blight going back into the Arena, but better him than their own sons.

 

The screen Snow had given his speech on is now showing District Two, they must have already reaped from the first District, Johanna wishes she’d paid more attention to the screen, wonders what the careers’ reactions would have been like before they got a hold of their emotions, they have always been closest to the Capitol and now they’ve been betrayed along with the rest of the Districts. Then again the career Districts have more victors to pick from, and some are still volunteering, Enobaria volunteers almost before the escort can finish saying the name of the victor that has been reaped. Johanna isn’t surprised, she’s probably eager for the chance to sink her teeth into someone else’s throat.   

 

The rest of the Districts are reaped with much less fanfare than usual, most Districts only have a few victors so it’s not exactly tense when the escort pick the names from the almost-empty bowls. There are a few surprises though, Mags volunteers when Annie’s name is called, Finnick looks relieved and embraces the elderly woman. Johanna doesn’t know what she’s doing, there’s no way she has a hope of surviving the Arena again, although looking at Annie who had never been the same since her time in the Arena she didn’t have much hope either. At least this way Finnick probably won’t be unable to focus on anything other than the woman he loved being in the Arena with him.

 

Johanna’s stomach turns over and she closes her eyes and lets out a long drawn out breath, there’s no question as to whether Katniss will be reaped again, like her she’s the only female victor in her District. At least this time she won’t have to sit and watch her make lovelorn eyes at the baker boy Johann thinks to herself. And then it’s Seven’s turn, Jingles actually reaches into the first bowl even though they both contain only one name and Johanna lets out another sharp laugh. Hundreds of eyes turn to look at her but she only raises her eyebrows and looks out at the crowd defiantly. What did they think she would do? Break down in front of everyone?

 

They’re quickly ushered away once their section has been broadcast, Johanna expects to be going to where they always waited for the rest of the reapings to be done with before heading to the train that would take them to the Capitol but instead they are escorted straight to the station. No doubt the Capitol is worried about flight risk, or tributes that actually know how to fight Johanna thinks to herself humourlessly.

 

Johanna had wanted to see District Twelve’s broadcast, she wondered whether Haymitch or Peeta had been reaped. Johanna tried to pretend she wasn’t worried about what Katniss’s reaction would be to Snow’s speech, to know she’d be back in the Arena -and this time with proven killers. Katniss was a fighter, and she probably wouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events considering the meeting Haymitch had shown Johanna between Snow and Katniss.

 

Once on the train Johanna is thankful for once for the Capitol’s obsession with projector screens as the brunette quickly moves to watch the rest of the reaping from the Districts, which eventually gets around to Twelve. Katniss looks shell-shocked, Johanna can’t imagine what the younger victor must be feeling, she knows Katniss hated everything about the Games, hated having to kill anyone for the Capitol even the mercy killing of Cato and avenging Rue. Katniss stands on the stage, not moving or speaking and Johanna sees a tear roll down her cheek.

 

Johanna’s chest constricts painfully and she clenches her fists, hating that once again she’s unable to help Katniss and can only watch her pain through a screen. Johanna wants to be able to be there with Katniss to tell her it’s going to be okay, that she survived the Arena before she can do it again. There’s no way Johanna’s going to let them take her soulmate away from her again. Effie to her credit looks like she doesn’t want to be doing this; she isn’t doing the usual spiel that Johanna has heard from the District Twelve escort so many times over the years. Then again this is the first time she’s had any of the tributes from Twelve survive, spending more than a few days with someone tends to make it slightly more difficult to send them off to their deaths. Again.

 

Effie moves on to the male tributes and reads out Haymitch’s name but Peeta is up there straight away, volunteering for the older victor. Johanna’s hands curl into fists she doesn’t know whether this is good or bad, from the look on Katniss’s face this isn’t the way she wanted this to go. Johanna tenses at the thought; did Katniss want to protect Peeta from the Arena again? Or is she just upset that he’s putting himself in harm’s way in order to protect her. This is going to be another hopeless rerun of the last Games, Katniss and Peeta in the Arena together again, they’ll be in the public eye once more putting on a show for the viewers… but then again as much as Johanna hates to admit it she knows the baker boy cares for Katniss, maybe he will be the better chance over Haymitch in the Arena for keeping her soulmate alive. If she can bear to watch him near her without killing him herself that is.

 

The three victors on the stage stare out into the crowd impassively, Katniss hasn’t spoken, has barely moved save to stand near Effie once her name was called. The crowd aren’t as unresponsive though, Johanna watches as the assembled crowd from District Twelve salute their victors, silently raising their hands to the sky. Katniss and Peeta return the salute and Johanna notices the peacekeepers on the side-lines getting itchy trigger fingers and two of them are quick to pull away the tributes from Twelve.

 

The train begins to move and Johanna stares at the now blank projector screen, still reeling from the events that have just unfolded, not so much her own reaping, but wondering what this will mean now for her and Katniss. And that third wheel Peeta. However from the look on Blight’s face he isn’t as keen on silence as Johanna is,

 

“Well, that was unexpected.” Blight begins awkwardly.

“There’s no newbies here. We don’t have to talk.” Johanna replies bluntly.

“Jo, I know we’ve not been close recently, I wish you could tell me why, tell me what had been bothering you, but I know now we’re heading back… I know this wasn’t something any of us wanted –or expected. But I want you to know I’ve got your back in there.”

 

Johanna grunts and chooses to ignore Blight who sighs at her actions but lets it go, leaving her alone except to bring her something from the dining carriage while Johanna stays in the same compartment staring out the window. Haymitch was right; Blight is a much better friend than she deserves.

 

Johanna watches the scenery speed past, the trees that dominate the landscape around Seven quickly give way to giant building yards and power lines, and then there is nothing until they get closer to the Capitol and stone takes over the natural environment, green being engulfed by cold whites and greys. They enter a tunnel and Johanna sees a flash of colour, she turns her head just in time to catch another glimpse of the graffiti and realises it’s the symbol Katniss had worn in the Arena, a mockingjay armed with an arrow almost within the Capitol’s borders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah I’m going to be changing details around slightly in this-like I know Snow announced the change of rules for the 75th Games before everyone was waiting to find out who the tributes were but since it’s Johanna’s pov I’m going to move certain things so it’s easier for her to find out about them. If that makes sense. The main plot is going to stay close to the book/film though.  
> I’m aiming for an update a week, although I currently only have a buffer of one and a half chapters so hopefully I can keep ahead of those.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they arrived in the Capitol the victors had barely enough time to get their bearings before they were surrounded by peacekeepers and the victors and their escort were not so subtly led towards the line of waiting vehicles. Johanna exchanged worried glances with Blight but as ever Jingles seemed unconcerned, or unaware of what was happening outside of her immediate concern.

 

“Right,” Jingles trilled excitedly, “we don’t have long before the parade, the stylists have been working around the clock to make something fitting for the two of you, and I just know you’ll love it!”

Johanna raised her eyebrows at Blight who looked almost as uncomfortable as Johanna felt annoyed with Jingles’ over the top excitement. “Is it tree themed?” Johanna asked dryly.

“Well you are from District Seven Johanna; they would hardly make it livestock themed now would they?” Jingles tittered as she ushered the two victors with practiced ease into a waiting car. “Now there is a brand new building that has been built especially to house all of this year’s victors and tributes. Well, I guess those are one and the same really.” Jingles tittered to herself causing Johanna to roll her eyes at the escort.

“Everyone’s in the same building?” Blight asked surprised.

“I’ve been told its state of the art, you can’t get better safety and luxury items, they’re top of the line, even the President’s mansion doesn’t have some of the features that have been built into the block! And peacekeepers will be assigned on the opening of each level and the bottom floor is well protected in case of-”  

“In case of what?” Johanna interrupted anger colouring her tone.

“Well… just in case anything I suppose. This is on the direct order of President Snow himself, he has your best interests at heart, no one wants anything to happen to you while you’re staying in the Capitol.”

“Is that a joke?” Johanna asked, “if anyone else had said it I would assume they were joking.” Jingles just stared blankly back at Johanna who sighed. “I’m sure the place is state of the art, they don’t want two dozen angry killers left to their own devices in the Capitol.” Johanna said darkly.

“Well you put it like that…” Blight trailed off. “Wait, you’re not going to do anything foolish are you Jo?”

 

Johanna just rolled her eyes and went back to watching the way they went to their new accommodation, the brunette noticed more peacekeepers on the streets than usual, the overall atmosphere in the Capitol was different, more charged. The Capitol citizens seemed to be behaving as usual, going about their regular routines but Johanna had seen enough fights -had been in enough fights to recognise the tension that preceded them. Snow wasn’t as secure as he had made out to be, the Capitol wasn’t as secure as he wanted everyone to think, Johanna couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Eventually the trio made it to the newly built accommodation for the victors, Johanna craned her head looking up at the building before them, even Jingles faltered in her step at the imposing sight.

 

“Everyone has their own floor.” Jingles prompted helpfully.

“And then some I’d say.” Blight remarked.

 

Johanna just stared at the tower, it was typically Capitol, sweeping arcs and dainty ornamentation on the outside but it couldn’t hide what it’s true purpose, to keep the victors contained and under control. Once inside Johanna didn’t alter her opinion of the building, there were peacekeepers filling the ground floor, three were behind a desk eyeing Johanna intently and a few more were lining the room. Johanna was sure there were probably many more in the rooms that the brunette could tell from twenty paces away were reinforced and no doubt had multiple heavy duty armaments for the peacekeepers inside.

 

The three of them walked to the end of the lobby, Jingles was smiling and attempting to exchange greetings with the peacekeepers who must have had a talk on how to effectively avoid a conversation with people as extroverted as the Capitol escorts were known to be as none of them so much as changed their facial expressions. Johanna was used to seeing peacekeepers concentrated on their tasks but they usually seemed somewhat human, these were something else. Once they passed through the tense atmosphere of the lobby and entered the elevator Jingles pressed the button marked number seven and eventually the elevator doors opened up to reveal a hallway that Johanna had to admit was kind of nice –if you could get over the fact that you had willingly walked into somewhere Snow had had designed especially for Johanna and all the other victors and he intended to die in the next few weeks.

 

Johanna walked through the floor the way a predator paces it’s new cage, taking note of the various ‘safety precautions’ that Jingles would argue were for their benefit but Johanna knew were just another way of ensuring their cooperation. At least there wasn’t any noticeable recording devices in the room, although considering the peacekeepers at the door and the multiple screens that looked like they could be activated remotely, blocking off any part of the floor at the command of Panem knows who, so it probably wasn’t high on Snow’s priority to listen to what would likely be a lot of bitching from the various victors. Snow knew none of them would like what he had done, but he also knew there was nothing they could really do about it. And this show of power, the building of a brand new cage they had all willingly walked into only served to highlight that.

 

There were the usual rooms branching off from the hallway, a luxurious sitting area complete with the obligatory giant projector screen, spacious bedrooms and a large open area that currently had tables pushed up against the walls and a collection of Capitol stylists all eagerly awaiting Blight and Johanna’s arrival. Johanna initially balked at the set up but finally Blight managed to coax the brunette into sitting for the stylists in preparation for the opening parade of the Games that was in a few hours.

 

“Still in your lumberjack clothes?” One of the stylists said picking at Johanna’s plaid overshirt with distaste.

“Weirdly enough wearing a ball gown aren’t very practical when you cut down trees for a living.” Johanna bit back.

“You could make a little effort though darling, you are back in the limelight this year after all.”

“Yay.” Johanna said, her anger rising

“Anyway,” said Blight quickly, interrupting whatever Johanna had planned for the stylist “being a lumberjack and wearing women’s clothes aren’t mutually exclusive, remember Monty? He used to wear suspenders and a bra under his overalls and he was the best logger we had in Seven. Until that business with the high heels.”

“Poor Monty, he never saw that snake coming.” Johanna added to the confusion of everyone except Blight who nodded in agreement.

 

The stylists stopped trying to engage Johanna in conversation after that, and Johanna tuned out their incessant chattering back and forth to each other and Jingles as they worked on putting her and Blight into what was likely to be another godawful tree outfit.

 

“Of course it’s such a pity about the couple from Twelve.” The froofy orange haired woman said, drawing Johanna’s attention back to the stylists.

“I know, they’re so sweet,” A violently purple haired woman with piercings added. “Bauble is one of their stylists you know, she told me when she went to get them ready she walked in to Katniss’s bedroom-knocking first of course, but they were both in her bed curled up together, the way she described it was so adorable! The poor girl told Bauble it was because of nightmares but I think that was an excuse.”

“Well they have been through so much together, I’m surprised they’re even keeping up the pretence of living in separate houses back in their little District.” Jingles commented casually.

“Well they are young, and their parents don’t want them to rush things.” The orange haired woman replied.

“Who’s rushing? They went through hell in that Arena, and imagine seeing the person you love being reaped! And now it’s happened again to them both! They don’t have the time to take things slowly.” A stylist working on Blight spoke up and caused the conversation between the Capitol citizens to shift to what a shame it was that the young couple had been reaped, and wasn’t there anything Snow or someone could do to let them avoid going back into the Arena.

 

Johanna felt the fury build up as she listened to the stylists and Jingles talking, they were oblivious to the shift in her mood, Johanna could practically feel the jealously thick under her skin, filling up every space inside of the brunette, all Johanna can think, all she can feel is fury and resentment over what Peeta gets to have, what should be hers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Oh I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay, I sleep all night and I work all day. (He’s a lumberjack and he’s okay he sleeps all night and he works all day.) I cut down trees, I eat my lunch I go to the lavatory. On Wednesdays I go shopping and have buttered scones for tea.”   
> Next chapter will have have some Joniss interaction.


	4. Chapter 4

Before Johanna knew it she and Blight were being taken down to the main boulevard where the parade was being held, the victors were mostly kept separate from each other, although not because of any interfering from the Capitol. Even the victors who Johanna knew were friends with each other were keeping themselves apart from the other victors, sticking to the victors who were from their own District and Johanna got the feeling that for a lot of them that was only because they had to ride in the same chariot for the parade. Johanna glanced at Blight who gave her a weak smile in return, was he thinking about how he would have to kill the people he had spent weeks with every year ever since he had won his own Games? And what did that mean for them?

 

Johanna shook her head, and looked around at the other victors again, she couldn’t think about the Arena now, she had something more important she needed to focus on. She had- Johanna’s mind blanked when her eyes set upon Katniss. The victor from Twelve was in what looked like black leather, her makeup was striking, severe and mature, a far cry from the pretty dresses the Capitol had dressed her as in the last Games, she looked like a warrior. Johanna’s desire spiked memories of their time in Twelve flooding back to her, but her heart twisted in her chest when she saw Peeta at her shoulder, being closer than Johanna would ever be able to be. The two victors from Twelve were climbing onto their chariot, Katniss was taking in all the other victors surrounding them but Peeta’s attention was focused solely on Katniss, just like Johanna’s which is why she noticed when he reached out and took Katniss’s hand.

 

Johanna clenched her own fists and was about to go over to them but before she could Blight was pushing Johanna into their chariot and she couldn’t see Katniss past the long train of victors. Instead Johanna looked at the large projector screens, watching for the entrance from the victors from Twelve. Johanna was so focused on watching Katniss she was among the first to notice the initial spark racing across Katniss’s outfit before it ignited in brilliant flames, the crowd cheered but any enjoyment Johanna would have felt at seeing Katniss the same way she had first showed the Capitol a tribute from Twelve was worthy of attention was marred by what she saw on Snow’s face when Johanna looked at the stands, his expression determined and chilling.

 

When the parade finally ended Johanna searched for Katniss among the crowd of other victors and Capitol stylists checking and cooing over their creations, Johanna catches sight of Katniss but falters when she sees Finnick. The victor from Four has a well-deserved reputation and to see him flirting with Katniss makes Johanna’s blood seethe. If it wasn’t bad enough there was the bread boy now Odair was trying to worm his way in, Johanna stood glaring at the two of them and when the victor from Four walked away from Katniss Johanna quickly moved to intercept him.

 

“What was that about?” Johanna hisses angrily, grabbing a hold of Finnick’s arm to prevent him from walking by her.

“You know me and secrets Johanna.” Finnick replies casually, seemingly unbothered by being manhandled.

“What secrets could she possibly have that would interest you?” Johanna bit back, Finnick’s only response was to raise an eyebrow and toss a sugar cube into his mouth, crunching the sweet treat loudly as he quirked his lips into the grin that made a thousand Capitol citizens swoon “Will you stop it with that; I’ve known you for four years now you can’t flirt with me.”

“It’s true you are sadly immune to my charms, something everyone in the Capitol was most upset about, although you never did have quite the same role as me… while I was… encouraged to join in the Capitol’s desires you got away with being an ill-tempered dog snapping at its master’s hand.”

“What were you talking to Katniss about?” Johanna asked again, ignoring Finnick’s comment.

“Why the sudden interest in Twelve Johanna? Unless this isn’t a sudden interest… now I think about it you _were_ rather invested in who survived the last Games-”

“Stop pretending you’re some ‘master of secrets’ fish boy. I’m not interested; I just wanted to save the newbie from your creepy flirtations.”

“Sure.” Finnick grinned at Johanna, “it’s been a while since you’ve cared enough to call me fish boy though, there really must be something there.”

 

Johanna growled and turned away, still hearing Finnick’s laughter behind her as she moved through the crowd. Johanna couldn’t help but search out Katniss after speaking to Finnick, if she was being honest with herself she wouldn’t have been able to stay away even before that, Finnick’s comments had just made the urge to talk to Katniss herself all the more pressing.  Johanna made an effort to lose sight of Finnick in the crowd though before finally making her way over to where Katniss was, she didn’t want Haymitch to have any more ammunition against her seeing Katniss, and she knew the old drunk wouldn’t be happy if Finnick started playing at being a detective.

 

“Saw you talking to Finnick, should I warn Peeta that his stumbling lover is looking elsewhere, and with the most renowned lothario in Panem at that?” Johanna blurted out irritably as soon as she came within reach of Katniss.

Katniss turned around and eyed Johanna warily, her gaze flicking back to where Peeta and Haymitch were talking to Effie, “Don’t be ridiculous Johanna; Finnick was just sizing me up.”

“I bet he was.” Johanna growled, glaring back through the crowd at where she had last seen the victor from Four. “Best be careful Katniss, we wouldn’t want the Capitol’s favourite couple to falter now, especially not now you’ve ‘never been closer’. ”

“So I guess you saw the propo?” Katniss says sighing as she meets Johanna’s eyes tiredly.

“If you wanted to keep it a secret from me you should really have talked with them about making it start up on the screens by itself.”

“You might have been out in the woods.”

“Did you want me to be out in the woods?” Johanna asks harshly, “Did you hope I wouldn’t see you and bread boy _literally_ falling all over each other? And that doesn’t even factor in that you and Pitta bread are apparently sleeping together now.” Johanna hissed vehemently, her eyes fixed on Katniss’s, whose own instantly narrowed at Johanna’s accusation.

“Who told you that?” Katniss says angrily, “that’s none of your business-”

“None of my business?” Johanna says disbelievingly before laughing, “No, I guess it isn’t is it. Nothing to do with you is any of my business is it? In your eyes that’s all there is between us; nothing.”

“Jo wait, I didn’t mean- I meant-”

“I think we both know what you _meant_ to say Katniss.” Johanna bites out the younger victor’s name and the two glare at each other, both believing that the other is being unreasonable and both too stubborn to back down.

“Johanna, hey, how are you?” Peeta asked, unknowingly wandering into the tense atmosphere between the two victors.

“How am I?” Johanna laughs, not taking her eyes from Katniss to acknowledge Peeta “I’m great, just great. And of course your bread boy’s here. Can’t he let you do anything by yourself? Or is he fine with letting a shirtless Odair _size you up,_ but when I’m here I have to be kept under wraps in case I give something away. Something that’s not there apparently.”

“Peeta can you give us a minute?” Katniss asks, her eyes still fixed on Johanna. Peeta doesn’t move, still looking between Katniss and Johanna uneasily, “Peeta.” Katniss says again, her voice harder now, and Peeta nods and leaves. Johanna barely registered Peeta leaving, her attention was still fixed on Katniss who took a deep breath and started talking in a much calmer tone to Johanna. “You’re taking everything the wrong way. There’s no need for you to start throwing your axes around, you need to calm down, please Johanna, the cameras-”

“You’re so concerned about the Capitol, about playing up to their little charade, but this isn’t a game for me to prove my love to you! I’m not bread boy who needs to put on a song and dance and almost kill you to show the world that we are meant to be! I’ve got your name branded onto my skin, just because you’re doing your best to forget that don’t think I’m going to do the same.”

 

Johanna glared at Katniss who stared at Johanna with wide eyes, Katniss looked as though she was about to speak but when nothing left her mouth Johanna abruptly turned away, her jaw clenched in anger as she moved through the crowd, away from Katniss. Johanna half hoped that she would hear Katniss call her back, or say something, anything to her but unlike her last interaction with another victor this time only silence followed her. 

 

Johanna had lost Blight and Jingles in the throng of tributes, Capitol well-wishers and those delightful Capitol citizens who just wanted the chance to meet any victor before they whittled the twenty four tributes down to one last survivor in the Arena. Which if anything was a blessing really, Johanna knows she wouldn’t be good company after what Katniss had said, or what she had said to Katniss. She’d probably let something slip in her anger, Haymitch would really have something to whine about if Jingles knew Katniss was her soulmate. Johanna curses as she pushes through the mass of people still surrounding the promenade where the parade had taken place, taking her anger out on the unsuspecting crowd.

 

Though Panem knew they all probably deserved her hard pushes and sharp elbows, her mind still going over the conversation she had just had with Katniss, wishing she had been able to convince the younger tribute to relax in her acting for a moment, after all as long as the Capitol citizens didn’t learn anything that would conflict with their opinion of Katniss and Peeta -which they would never glean from watching their interactions in public, every person from the Capitol Johanna had met had all being far too involved in their own lives to be able to look outside themselves long enough to put together Johanna and Katniss’s relationship. And if that wasn’t going to happen then Snow would have nothing to complain about.

 

Johanna knew Katniss must feel like she had to go along with what Snow had asked, but she had Johanna’s name branded onto her skin, that meant _something_. Although Katniss was clearly doing her best to avoid that detail, honestly at this point Johanna wanted to scream at the victor from Twelve that they belonged together, make it so she couldn’t avoid the fact that they had matching soulmarks -avoid her. Besides, what was the point in surviving the Arena if they were going to let the Capitol dictate their every move now? They had kept their lives after their Games it was stupid to throw them away to the Capitol, especially now when their future was uncertain. 

 

Eventually Johanna pushes her way through the crowd and makes it back to the building that had been created to house all of the tributes this year, lost in her own head Johanna wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as she entered but some unerring sense makes her take note of a flash of dark hair and when she looks up she sees Katniss following Haymitch and Peeta into the elevator in the lobby and rushes after them, slipping in just as the doors close.

 

“You guys look amazing.” Johanna says honestly.

“Thank you.” Katniss replies watching Johanna warily. Johanna does her best to ignore the younger victor; if Katniss wants to play it as though they’re nothing to each other she can do that. But she’ll be damned if she lets Katniss forget about her.

“My stylist is such an idiot. District Seven. Lumber. Trees. Ugh. I’d like to put my axe in her face.” Johanna says shedding her necklace and bracelets and tossing them to the floor. “So what do you think, now that the whole world wants to sleep with you?”

“I don’t think the whole world-”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Johanna interrupts turning to face Katniss, her face masking the chaotic emotions rushing through her. Katniss glares back at Johanna who ignores the younger victor and turns to Peeta “Unzip?”

“Uh, yeah.” Peeta replies stumbling a little as he unzips the dress and the material slides down her body, falling to the floor and leaving Johanna completely naked.

 

Johanna turns again, facing Katniss who looks furious, a startling contrast to Haymitch’s happy expression and Peeta’s scared one. Johanna sees Peeta noticing her soulmark on her hip and the baker boy quickly turns his gaze away, staring at the wall with his jaw set. The four of them stand in silence waiting for the elevator to reach its stop, Johanna looking over at the other occupants and daring Katniss to say something. Katniss doesn’t of course; instead she avoids eye contact with Johanna and tries to look unaffected.

 

“Thanks. Let’s do it again sometime.” Johanna says as she exits the elevator on the seventh floor.

 

Johanna can just see enough in one of the polished mirrors in the hall as she exits to catch Haymitch winking at Katniss who scowled in response.

 

“I don’t know what you’re still doing here.” Haymitch said loud enough for Johanna to hear as she walked further into her living quarters. “You let your girl leave naked and walk around a building crawling with other victors.” Katniss still said nothing and Johanna heard the doors close, frustration gripping her as she realised Katniss was just going to ignore this after all.

 

But Johanna kept her head up high, she wasn’t going to let this be the end, there was still time for her to convince Katniss that her actions were ridiculous. Then Johanna heard the glide of the elevator doors opening again, and the sound of Katniss striding out on the floor, her footsteps rushed as she hurried towards Johanna.  

 

Johanna caught Haymitch’s chuckle and then faint conversation before the doors closed again, “I don’t know why the Capitol are so focused on you and Katniss, they’re missing a much more interesting love story.” Peeta either didn’t respond or did so too quietly for Johanna to hear. “Oh, don’t be sad Peeta; you are a victor after all. You wouldn’t _believe_ the amount of women -or men, who would like nothing more than for you to give them your attention.”

  
Johanna can hear Katniss storming down the corridor leading to the district Seven living quarters, keeping just in front of the younger victor she makes it to the bar in the sitting area with just enough time to casually lean against it, ignoring Blight’s fish impression when he sees her, just before Katniss shoves the door open causing Blight to pause in his blatant ogling of Johanna who is still very naked.

 

Katniss doesn’t break her stride and surges over to Johanna, grabbing her and pushing her against the wall. “Er… I’ll just… I’ll go then. Shall I?” Blight stuttered. “Or… I could stay? If you guys don’t mind? Or I could-”

“Blight.” Katniss interrupted his rambling evenly as she stared into Johanna’s mirthful eyes. “Get out.”

“Right. Right you are. Okay. You two kids have fun.” Blight turned and left, bumping into the sofa in shock on his way out.

 

Johanna tries to flip their positions but Katniss pins Johanna’s hands above her head and uses her height to keep control over the smaller and stronger victor. Katniss leans down and catches Johanna’s mouth in an almost vicious kiss, Johanna eagerly returns the kiss, giving as good as she gets arcing her body into Katniss, trying to imprint the feel of the younger victor onto her skin since she still doesn’t have the use of her hands. Eventually Katniss breaks the kiss and her hold on Johanna’s hands and Johanna pants against her, greedily pulling in air to her drained lungs as her hands go to Katniss’s waist keeping her body pulled flush against her.

 

“I can’t believe you did that in front of Haymitch and Peeta.” Katniss says breathlessly resting her head on the wall next to Johanna’s and turning slightly so she can look at the older victor.

“Look who’s jealous.” Johanna practically purrs.  

Katniss puts her hand on the skin of Johanna’s hip, stroking the spot where her soulmark starts and curls around her back “Did you do that to show your mark to Peeta?” Katniss asks softly.

Johanna groans “Can we not bring up bread boy now?” besides, if she wanted to show her mark to anyone earlier it was Katniss.

“You’re right;” Katniss says her fingers still dancing the mark on Johanna’s skin that bears her name “It’s kind of funny my name is on your ass.” The younger victor says grinning.

“What? That’s not my ass.”

“Sure it is. Like branding cattle.” Katniss teases. The tension that Johanna knows the younger victor had been carrying around has vanished, it’s back to how things where when Johanna was in Twelve with Katniss, before Haymitch had sent her back to Seven and Snow threatened Katniss.

“So you own me is that what you’re saying? And what about this?” Johanna scratches at the mark on Katniss’s ribs in response.

“At least mine isn’t on my ass.” Katniss responds sweetly, her mouth quirked in a teasing grin. Johanna growls and pushes away from the wall, Katniss’s eyes brighten and her gaze drops to Johanna’s lips, Johanna smirks in response and pulls a laughing Katniss along to her room. 


	5. Chapter 5

A loud knocking at the door brings Johanna abruptly from her sleep, it takes her a moment to realise where she is, she had slept deeper last night than she has done in a while, no doubt due to the nature of the dream she can vividly remember having involving Katniss and her being naked in an elevator. Or was it just her who was naked in the elevator? Johanna scowls and pushes her face further into the pillow, annoyed at Blight for waking her up and pulling her from the pleasant fantasy. At least he didn’t barge into her room like he usually did when they were in the Capitol together, in fact considering it’s just Blight and her and they don’t have other tributes around to mentor it is very odd that Blight hasn’t forced her out of bed to make sure she arrives at the training facility on time today. Johanna frowns and starts to move, but before she can an arm suddenly wraps itself around her and a warm body presses up against her.

“Ugh do we have to?” Katniss questions and a wide grin instantly spreads over Johanna’s face at the sound.

“I had a great dream.” Johanna says turning over and looking down at the deliciously rumpled and dishevelled form of Katniss curled up in her bed.

“Yeah?” Katniss replies raising an eyebrow and looks Johanna over slowly. “Mine was pretty good too.”

“I’m starting to think there’s more we should have done in that elevator, or could do.” Johanna says pulling Katniss closer to her, erasing all distance between their two bodies and leaning down to bring their lips together for a breath-stealing  kiss.

“Erm, no. There are cameras there you know.” Katniss said once she had pulled back, frowning at the suggestion.

“Come on, I thought I had shaken you out of your prudish ways back in Twelve, don’t tell me I need to start all. Over. Again.” Johanna said pausing between each word to plant a longer kiss on Katniss’s exposed skin, kissing her way slowly down Katniss’s body.

“The cameras…” Katniss said half-heartedly, struggling to talk under Johanna’s ministrations but when Johanna stopped and looked up at her the younger victor sighed in disappointment.

“Relax, no one monitoring them saw anything, and aside from the security doors on our floors that I’m sure the peacekeepers downstairs can access whenever they want I haven’t found any cameras in here. Even if there were cameras they’re used to what the victors get up to. And our debauched ways haven’t made it to Panem’s public knowledge yet.” Johanna said grinning as she ghosted her fingers up and down Katniss’s sides.

Katniss sat up, pulling Johanna with her, Johanna blinked in surprise at the movement and thought Katniss’s next step was going to be to ask her what she meant or kick her out of her own bed but instead she held onto Johanna tightly, her eyes wide as she gripped the older victor’s hips. “But your soulmark, they will have seen-”

“Relax, if anyone looked at the mark over looking at my other assets they deserve to know,” Johanna teased much to Katniss’s annoyance, “anyway they’d probably think I faked it to get a rise over you. They didn’t know before.” Johanna said trying to act like Katniss’s touch on her mark wasn’t two seconds away from making her shudder into the younger victor’s touch. “I never let them completely strip me before my Games. Gotta keep something back after all.”  

“Considering you just stripped down in front of Haymitch and Peeta I doubt you kept much back during your time as a victor.” Katniss said dryly.

Johanna smirked at that, “Jealous?”

Katniss rolled them both over, “Why would I be jealous.” She growled into Johanna’s mouth before crushing her mouth to Johanna’s. The two kissed passionately, hands roaming over bare skin, delighting in the feel of each other until another loud knock on the door jerked Katniss and Johanna apart.

“Jo I don’t know what’s going on in there –well, no, I have a pretty good idea of what’s going on even if I don’t understand why, but we really have to get going to the training centre. And so does… err, Katniss.” Blight said from outside the room.

“Blight doesn’t know?” Katniss asked surprised.

Johanna rolled her eyes and flopped back onto the bed frustrated with Blight’s interruption. “I’m pretty sure something’s clued him in now.”

“We have to be careful; I’m under much more scrutiny than you know.” Katniss says seriously as she disentangles herself from Johanna’s hold and leaves the bed, much to Johanna’s disappointment.

“I know Snow talked to you about this, but as long as no one else in the Capitol sees us kissing or something equally enjoyable” Johanna pauses to wink at that and Katniss responds with an eye roll, although Johanna notices the younger victor can’t quite hide the smile on her face “then nothing will come of this, Snow doesn’t care as long as he can keep pretending you didn’t beat him in the last Games.”

“Snow won’t have to worry about me beating him for long, not now I’m going back into the Arena.” Katniss responds darkly. “And how do you know about Snow coming to see me?”

“Haymitch told me.”

“How did he-”

“Eyes everywhere?” Johanna says unhelpfully, causing Katniss to sigh, “Not that that should make you think twice about us taking advantage of living only a few floors away from each other now.” Johanna was quick to add hopping out of the bed and moving over to Katniss, taking the younger girl into her arms carefully, watching for signs that she was going to bolt. “Besides, I’m going into the Arena too; we got through it before we can again.”

Katniss and Johanna looked at each other neither wanting to say the obvious, that since both of them were going into the Arena and the rules were still that only one victor would be leaving alive the odds of them both getting through the Games were near inexistent.  Johanna preferred to bask in the blissful ignorance of ignoring what the Capitol had planned for them for a little while longer; after all, she had plenty of practice with that during the last Games while she had been watching Katniss before the tribute from Twelve had entered the Arena. Besides, Katniss had beaten the Games before, her and Peeta had survived their Games, maybe there would be another miracle for them.

“I know,” Katniss said dropping her gaze from Johanna’s and holding onto the victor from Seven. “I don’t want you in there either, everything is so fucked up.”

 

Much to Johanna’s dismay Katniss couldn’t be enticed back to the bed and after Katniss had thrown one too many items of clothing at the older victor whenever she had tried to encourage Katniss to delay getting ready Johanna got dressed, grumbling all the while, and left Katniss alone in her room to find something in her sparse wardrobe that would fit her taller frame. Johanna made her way to the dining area and piled a plate high with the food one of the avoxes had prepared while she was still asleep.

 

“So… you and Katniss…?” Blight asked curiously, “what’s going on Jo, she’s supposed to be in love with the other victor from Twelve and she’s over here following your naked ass around and kissing you against walls?” Johanna just grinned in response, causing Blight to groan in annoyance.

Johanna was just fine with leaving Blight frustrated when he had interrupted her and Katniss twice already, Blight had never been one to let gossip lie, this must be killing him Johanna thought gleefully. Although he quickly shut up when Katniss entered the room and stood near Johanna, leaning into her as she gathered her own plate of breakfast food.

“Ah. Hi… Katniss. Did you, uh, sleep well?” Blight asked awkwardly.

“Really Blight?” Johanna asked rolling her eyes. “You know exactly how little she slept; the walls here aren’t that thick.”

“Johanna!” Katniss said scandalised.

“See? Prude. I’m going to have to work on that.” Johanna smirked at Katniss.

“Yes well erm.” Blight said looking away from the two of them uncomfortably.

 

Johanna and Katniss sat at the table and made inroads on the pile of food before them all the while Blight looked on, his expression bewildered as he watched the two victors flirt in between eating bites of breakfast. At one point Katniss snagged one of the last pastries from Johanna’s plate and when Johanna didn’t immediately demand it back, or something in return Blight looked as though his eyes were about to fall from his head. Katniss looked between the two victors from Seven a few times but when Johanna didn’t say anything to explain what was going on to Blight the younger victor seemed content to simply enjoy their time together. Something Johanna could agree with whole-heartedly. Johanna knew she would have to tell Blight something soon, but while Katniss was there she chose to savour the moment, enjoying being able to be with her soulmate and the closeness she hadn’t had for so long with Katniss.

 

“We really need to get a move on Jo.” Blight said looking between the two of them with what must be close to being a permanent look of confusion fixed on his face.

“Oh for Panem’s sake Blight, I’m pretty sure the training centre will still be there if we’re a little late.” Johanna bit back annoyed at his constant interruptions of her time with Katniss.

“I should get going too; Haymitch will probably want to talk to us before we head into the centre.” Katniss said getting up from the table and turning towards the door. Katniss paused and leant against Johanna, leaning down and capturing her lips in a deep kiss.

 

Johanna didn’t say anything once Katniss pulled away, watching in silence as Katniss walked towards the door, Katniss turned before she exited through it to give Johanna a smile that was tinged with sadness before going into the elevator. Johanna couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of Katniss’s face once she entered the elevator, she’d be surprised if the younger victor would be able to use it again without blushing.

 

Blight looked over at Johanna who was still looking at the door that Katniss had just left through, “You are going to be in deep shit if Mellark ever finds out about this.”

“She’s mine.”

“What so you’ve started an affair? I mean, I guess with the Games almost upon us it’s not that strange, we all have adrenaline and emotions we need to bleed off somehow but-”

“No, she’s not cheating on bread boy, she was never his, their relationship is fake for the Capitol.”

“So…” Blight trailed off uncertainly.

“So.” Johanna turned away from the door and looked at Blight squarely in the eye, daring him to contradict her; “She’s mine.”

“You mean your…” Johanna nodded slowly. “Well, you’ve knocked me sky west and crooked, I’m so happy for you JoJo!” Blight said smiling at Johanna. “Okay, this explains how you were last Games- oh Panem I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you during the last Games. And now we’re here again, and she’s here again… Jo-”

“Don’t Blight. It’s fine.”

“Of course, and if there’s anything you need from me you know you just have to ask.”

“Thanks… I don’t know why I didn’t tell you about this before.” Johanna said frowning at Blight’s compassionate expression.

“I know why.”

“You do?”

Blight shrugs and smiles a little sadly at Johanna “After what happened with your family you never let yourself get close to anyone, even me-”

“You are quite annoyingly cheerful.” Johanna interrupted

“Sure am.” Blight grinned back, “she’s broken down some of your walls, I can see that now, but why would you have told me before? You keep everything bottled up so that no one can use it to hurt you. If no one knew about you and Katniss they couldn’t hurt her with it during her Games, or used her against you. And look how the last Games turned out, would they have let her out of that Arena without forcing Mellark and her to fight if they’d have known about you? I doubt it. And would they have believed she would have eaten those berries if they knew you were here?”

Johanna tried not to think of Katniss back in the Arena in the last Games, of whether she would have eaten the berries and left her to stop from having to kill her fellow tribute, focusing on what Blight was saying now instead of visions of her life without Katniss in it at all. “I didn’t think you would use it to hurt me.”

“No, I know. And you don’t think that I’m annoying either.” Johanna rolled her eyes at that, “Now get your ass in gear, we should have been at the training centre fifteen minutes ago.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is up later than I wanted because my laptop decided to fuck around with word and I couldn’t open any documents. Which… was super fun and only caused me to call upon the wrath of the elder gods once or twice. 
> 
> Side note, a while back I wrote a short unrelated soulmate ‘seeing colours’ AU around the elevator scene at the prompting of a comment on BBY because –well who doesn’t enjoy that scene?  
> 
> 
>  
> 
>  [The Colour of Fire](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6859612)
> 
>  


	6. Chapter 6

When Johanna and Blight finally walked into the training centre the large room was silent except for the grunts of Cashmere and Gloss, the victors from One throwing knives at targets well over fifty paces away and Enobaria and Brutus from Two sparring. She should have known the careers would be the first ones to throw themselves into preparation for the Games; they almost looked as if they were enjoying it Johanna thought to herself. Just then Enobaria threw Brutus to the mats with a loud thud and snapped her sharpened teeth inches away from the other victor’s face. Brutus looked shaken but Enobaria ignored him and raised her eyes to the other victors in the room, her mouth still bared in a gross parody of a smile. Yeah. Some were definitely enjoying this.

 

From what Johanna could tell with a surreptitious glance around the room as she and Blight made their way over to the display of weapons most of the other victors were all avoiding everyone who wasn’t from their District too, preferring to stick to their District partner. The previous camaraderie they had found during past Games seemed to have evaporated along with the promise of safety from the Capitol.

 

“Maybe we should branch out, practice with something else.” Blight said lowly after Johanna collected an axe from the racks, indicating the wide array of other weapons laid out before them.

“They want a good show, everyone’s preferred weapon is going to be in the Arena, they’re not going to miss out on the chance we’ll cleave someone’s head from their shoulders.” Johanna responded darkly.

“Okay, I guess you’re right, I’ll just leave.” Blight said winking, his grin widening at Johanna’s look of confusion. “Come on, you missed out on teasing me for branch out, I thought I should give you another chance. You know we’ll have to get used to that again once we get around the careers again.”

 

Johanna rolls her eyes at Blight which does nothing to dampen his grin and scans the training room for Katniss. She finally spots the victor from Twelve at one of the survival stations with Wiress and Beetee. Johanna frowns at that, Katniss should be showing the other victors what she can do, not sitting with Nuts and Volts. And especially not at a survival station, everyone here won their own Games they won’t be impressed by someone who can start a fire.

 

Johanna moves her way to a clear area of the room and starts swinging the axe she selected around, getting used to the weight and balance of it. A few swings and manoeuvres of the axe and Johanna starts to get a feel for the weapon, Johanna has kept up with practicing with the axe after her Games, more so than Blight, but she mainly kept to throwing them -or hurling them depending on how angry she was at the time. Using this axe makes her remember what it was like fighting in close quarters, feeling the adrenaline spike as you grapple for your life, the only thing in between you and death is whatever you have in your own hands. Johanna turns with the weapon using her bodyweight to swing it harder and faster, eventually hitting it into the floor of the training facility with a yell. Johanna looks up once her axe is embedded into the floor and makes eye contact with Katniss who’s moved away from the victors from Three and is now at a different survival station. Katniss blushes as soon as Johanna meets her gaze and looks away, back to the fish hooks she is making with Mags.

 

Johanna watches Katniss lead Mags over to the long distance target centre under the guise of testing the heft of some of the other axes. The Capitol really hadn’t spared any expense this year, hard light projectors to use as targets, dozens of programmes to choose from. As long as Katniss gives Mags something slow and easy there will be no need to worry about stray arrows or brittle old bones breaking. But Mags doesn’t step into the room with Katniss, Johanna watches as Katniss stands in the centre of the room, arrows at the ready waiting for the programme to start. A blocky figure materialises suddenly, another right behind it, Katniss fires at both, barely a moment between the two arrows. She dodges then fires another two in quick succession. Johanna’s breath is caught in her throat as she watches Katniss move, Johanna gives up all pretence of handling the other axes now and barely realises that she’s making her way closer to the target range to get a better look at Katniss. 

 

Katniss takes the time to aim at a running target before letting the arrow fly, the projection shatters into its component blocks and Katniss is already hitting two more targets, one after another.  Johanna is just aware enough in her surroundings to notice the other victors all slowly congregating around the target room, each watching Katniss silently but Johanna can’t pull her attention to from the feral grace that is the girl on fire to check on how the other victors are taking Katniss’s display. Katniss twists again, dodging before she takes careful aim at another target then another. And finally hits the last target before the holographic archer even has time to nock its own arrow.

 

As soon as the programme finishes Mags starts clapping excitedly. Johanna glances at the other victors who had gathered to watch Katniss and each have expressions with varying mixtures of awe and worry, except Mags who is still clapping and Johanna’s own expression which is still fixed on barely concealed lust. Katniss busies herself with putting away the bow so she doesn’t have to talk to any of the other victors and the gawping crowd disperse as swiftly as they had gathered. Johanna watches Katniss but once again Finnick corners her before Johanna can talk to the younger victor.

 

“That was some display back there. All those victors are going to be begging to be your ally once they’re in the Arena.” Johanna hears Finnick say as she edges closer to the archery weapons.

“Including you?” Johanna hears Katniss reply sarcastically.

“Maybe me, although I think I had better make nice with your main supporter first.”

“Pretty sure Haymitch already likes you.”

“I was talking about Johanna.”

“Johanna’s not-”

 “You know she was furious at me for flirting with you.” Katniss just shrugs in response “There’s not many things that Johanna gets riled up about,” Katniss raises her eyebrows at that “Well, okay, there are,” Finnick amends “But she is pretty accommodating of people and their kinks. Say for instance if she saw you cheating on your baker with me she wouldn’t bat an eye, roll them and make a few crass jokes to you in private sure, but she wouldn’t judge. So why then was she so incensed when she saw me with you?”

“Maybe you don’t know her as well as you thought?” Katniss responds Finnick stares at Katniss for a while who looks as though she’s about to walk away from Finnick when the victor from Four starts talking again.

“No, no I think I do. And Johanna isn’t the type who won’t go down without a fight.” Katniss stares at him alarm in her eyes and Johanna curses Finnick Odair and his need to find out everyone’s business.

“Well we’re all victors; none of us are going to go down without a fight.”

“Very true.” Finnick laughs then seems to sober, looking at Katniss appraisingly. “I know what it’s like you know,” Finnick says airily, “Annie… she isn’t in the Arena, she should be but Mags volunteered, maybe I’ll make it back to her, but I still won’t be free. Not while Snow is still running our lives. Not while the Capitol exists.”

“I thought you were the Capitol…”

“Whore?” Finnick responds with a shameless grin, “We all have to do what we can to keep off the Capitol’s bad books, you’ve got Peeta as your beard, I doubt they’d ask you to do anything to break up the Capitol’s favourite couple, now that was a smart move during your Games. But only if you keep it as that, what’s the point in giving the Capitol what they want if you’re not going to get any rewards in return?”

 

Johanna watched Katniss and Finnick’s interaction cautiously, trying to be as subtle about it as she can, but subtlety had never been one of Johanna’s skills. Haymitch has made a show of letting her know he is aware of her, and Peeta’s eyes are fixed on Katniss as ever. Blight catches her eye and looks pointedly between the two of them but Johanna shakes her head slowly, she’s not entirely sure what Blight is offering, not entirely sure she really wants to know how far her long suffering companion would go for a perceived threat but she knows her and Katniss’s relationship is still tenuous enough that she has to talk to her alone. At last Finnick leaves the alcove where the archery weapons are and Johanna takes the chance to talk to Katniss.

 

“Jo,” Katniss says worriedly and Johanna can almost forgive her tone for the way her eyes brighten up at the sight of her before Katniss looks around anxiously checking that no one is watching them. “Finnick was just…”

“I heard.”

“Oh. Well. Didn’t anyone ever teach you eavesdropping is rude?” Katniss asked archly.

“Maybe, but even if I had refined my manners with the years of company from lumberjacks and trees they hardly warrant keeping around Odair, not with all the secrets he claims to know.”

“He thinks me and Peeta should keep up with our relationship.” Katniss said, eyeing Johanna warily.

Johanna sighed, “The way I see it Katniss is you’ve already played the star crossed lovers trick, you won’t win any points by switching affections now. Especially not to me who is definitely less likable than bread boy over there.” Johanna nodded at Peeta who was currently painting with Bentley and Mai, the victors from Six. “I suppose painting was his one impressive skill in the Games last year.” Johanna said thoughtfully.

“He decorates cakes at the bakery.” Katniss blurted out.

Johanna looks at Katniss and raised an eyebrow “And I’m sure he’s very good at it. Anyway, if I had demanded you come clean with everyone in the Capitol now would you?” Katniss just stares at Johanna who sighs again. “I remember asking you to think for yourself and do what you wanted; I wish I knew if that’s what you were doing now.”

 

Katniss made as if she was going to move towards Johanna but stopped herself, jerking to a halt and scanning the room, checking if other victors had noticed anything. Johanna clenched her jaw and tried not to let it get to her that Katniss was still unable to get close to her in public, it probably was the safe move after all. Although Johanna knew the other victors wouldn’t care about anything they saw happening in the Capitol some might talk and Snow would be looking for any excuse to destroy Katniss’s popularity with the Capitol citizens. Hell, he might claim that that proved what happened at the end of the last Games was an act of rebellion and have her and Peeta arrested or worse. Johanna would take the Arena over whatever the Capitol would cook up in a prison cell any day.

 

Johanna itched to take Katniss into her arms and let the younger victor know that she was still here, remind her of everything that happened last night and that they couldn’t break the bond between them that easily. But there was nothing she could do or say to her here that would change anything between them and she was self-aware enough to know she’d likely make it worse with her current mood, especially considering how Katniss wanted them to act in public around each other. Johanna tried to avoid the sad look in Katniss’s eyes as she turned away from her to go and find Blight,  maybe she’d use the moving targets herself, throwing axes at people was her preferred method of venting frustration after all. Unfortunately the people in this case would be holograms and not Capitol leaders, not Snow, but it was something.

 

___________

They had moved up the timeline for the training assessment this year, the whole lead up to the 75th Games seemed to be sped up, likely to prevent the victors from causing any trouble before they were put into the Arena, or they just knew at this stage most of the victors would either have the skills necessary to survive in the Arena or they wouldn’t. Johanna eyed the morphlings as she waited for the assessors to call her into the room for the individual assessment, dull eyed and listless. They had long since fallen out of favour with the citizens of the Capitol, victors who weren’t presentable on propos, those lost their looks or minds never stayed in the public’s thoughts. Johanna bet most couldn’t even remember the names of the victors from Six.

 

Ironically the victors that the Capitol tended to idolise the most were the ones who had that spark of something, usually hatred for the Capitol Johanna thought, or some like Enobaria loved the Arena and managed to walk the line between enjoying what they had been forced to do but restraining themselves from going what the Capitol deemed too far. Although aside from the boy from Six who had started eating people in his Games what exactly too far was Johanna wasn’t sure. But they all had something that made them survivors. Bentley and Mai had just needed something else to survive life after the Arena. Which would have been fine if the Capitol hadn’t reneged on their promise for victors to have safe and comfortable lives after winning their Games, but as it was now their crutch to manage their lives outside the Arena wouldn’t help them survive after all.

 

Johanna watched the morphlings wringing their hands as they waited for their names to be called. Mai was rocking slightly in her chair, gazing unseeing on the far wall and Bentley looked an inch from ripping the nails from his own fingers. Johanna realised that this would be one of the last times she would see them.  Johanna hadn’t really thought what this reaping would have meant for the other victors, she had been too caught up in herself and Katniss and now she was surrounded by people who had known each other for years suddenly pit against each other. Not that she was particularly close to the victors from Six, or many others come to that, but a few she had gotten drunk with and cussed out the Capitol, fallen together after their mentees had been brutally murdered.

 

And what about Blight, he was the last person Johanna had in Seven, the only one she has been able to count on since her Games. She’d never tell him so but he was her best friend, hell, her only friend. He didn’t deserve to go back into the Arena any more than Katniss did, and if the odds were stacked against getting her and Katniss out alive how ridiculous would it be to get Blight or Chaff out? Bread boy probably wouldn’t make it… would Katniss be upset about that? Would she be more annoyed than Johanna would be appeased Johanna wondered as the door separating the waiting victors from the assessment room swung open and Finnick sauntered out followed by Mags, jarring Johanna from her thoughts. Johanna couldn’t work out what Mags had to be still smiling about, old decrepit and now back in the Arena and she was still smiling? Mags caught Johanna’s eye and her grin widened as she waved at Johanna who scowled in return.  

 

“I’m actually kind of glad you’re still a grumpy misanthrope Johanna.” Finnick said pausing with Mags by Johanna. “It’s nice to know you haven’t completely changed now you have someone you care about.” Johanna gestured rudely at Odair in response and Finnick just smiled knowingly. “I look forward to seeing how you deal with the Capitol’s plans. Finally someone you care about, you won’t have a reason to look down on me now if the Capitol use her to make you into their puppet.”

“I never looked down on you Finnick.”

Finnick smirked a little “So this sweet temperament isn’t just reserved for people you particularly dislike. I feel so much lighter all of a sudden.”

“Who shrunk your panties Odair? You’d think the Capitol would work out some sort of training scheme with all your paramours so they know how to wash them without damaging your goods.”

“Come on now Johanna, I’d have thought everyone from the Districts would be against the wasting of resources, why would I wear any if they were going to need so many washes?” Finnick replied with a smirk.

Johanna rolled her eyes “How does Cresta put up with you?”

“How does the girl on fire put up with you?” Finnick shot back

“That’s not the same thing at all.” Johanna practically growled at Finnick.

“No, it isn’t is it.” Finnick said, his casual tone at odds with his expression. “At least you have a chance; at least they let you keep your mark.”

“The scar on your back…” Johanna said realising

“Weird isn’t it.” Finnick said wryly. “Every wound I received in my Games the Capitol managed to heal perfectly, yet a complication while I was recovering gave me that scar. Right over my soulmark.”

 

Johanna stared at Finnick, not knowing what to say for once, and thankful beyond anything that the Capitol had never expressed an interest in whether she had a soulmark -and that she hadn’t been badly injured enough for anyone to see it after she won her Games. A disembodied voice called Johanna in for her assessment and she left Finnick and Mags outside, her mind still on what Finnick had told her. Johanna entered the room after Blight and noticed the assessors involved with the Games were on a pedestal behind a barrier now, something they hadn’t bothered to do when she was in her first Games, technology must have advanced much more than the Capitol were letting on down in the Districts. That or they were wary of the victors taking a more direct route to showing their displeasure with being sent back into the Arena.

 

“So what do you want here?” Johanna asked after a few moments of silence.

“You need to do something so we can adequately assess your skills.” One of the Gamemakers said patronisingly.

“You know what I do.” Johanna responded flatly, “this is all just a waste of time.”

“Yes we do Ms Mason, but perhaps you would like to show us your talents with some of the targets we have available, or if you have any other hidden talents we might not know about, or maybe just demonstrate that you haven’t forgotten how to swing an axe.” Another of the men spoke up to the chuckles of his colleagues.

“Well I really work best with a real target, call me old school. So if any of you want to come down from your cosy little room we’ll see if we can adequately assess my skills.”

There was silence from the protected area where the Gamemakers were for a few seconds then quiet muttering interspersed with worried glances at Johanna. Johanna stood there and watched them discuss her, waiting to see what they would do.

“That will be all then Ms Mason.”

Johanna raised her eyebrow at the comment, “That’s it?”

“I think we have everything we need.” The first assessor said.

“Well this has been as enlightening as always.” Johanna said dryly. “I hope the Games will be as thoroughly thought out as the assessments.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh words.  
> I think one more chapter then the Games.


	7. Chapter 7

For the first time since Johanna had been coming to the Capitol, first for her own Games and later as a mentor, Johanna and Blight for once weren’t eagerly awaiting the announcement of the training scores. Instead of going back to their living quarters to strategize as they usually would they had both found themselves in one of the bars that the victors tended to frequent, and it looked like they weren’t the only ones who hadn’t felt the need to discuss the impending Games, choosing alcohol over the reminders of the Arena. Johanna could see Chaff with Cecelia and Woof from Eight sat at one of the tables in the back, Cecelia and Chaff were laughing and seemed to be spurring each other to drink some of the weirder Capitol alcoholic concoctions but Woof was lacking in the jovial atmosphere the other two were broadcasting and was sat staring into his glass, his aged hands gripping the tumbler as he watched the younger victors downing smoking and brightly coloured beverages. He didn’t look like he was completely aware of what was going on, which wasn’t surprising considering he was almost as bad as Nuts. Most of the Capitol suspected Woof might be senile and he was usually given the minimum to do in any of the victor’s propos, although the Capitol obviously didn’t care enough to not make him go back into the Arena.

 

But of course nowhere in the Capitol could ever be free of reminders of the Games. When the projection screen cut to Caesar and the usual fanfare that preceded the Capitol’s Game announcements started up every Capitol citizen in the bar’s attention instantly switched to the screen. Johanna snorted into her drink while Blight and Liobam, the victor from Ten, were unsuccessfully attempting to tear the bartender’s attention away from Caesar’s run down of the victors about to enter the Arena and their assessment scores. Liobam eventually gave up on attracting the bartender’s attention away from the upcoming Games and started helping himself to drinks from the bar, passing bottles along to Blight and Johanna.

 

Although Johanna tried she couldn’t ignore the loud projector screen, as Caesar made his way down the list of victors entering the Arena Johanna’s mood sank further and she ignored her glass and started drinking straight from one of the bottles Liobam had passed out. Chaff and Cecelia’s mood had dropped too; Chaff was staring gloomily at the table while Cecelia glared at the screen. Blight had joined Johanna back at the table and looked about as happy as she felt. Johanna stared glumly at the rapidly dwindling alcohol before them as she listened to Caesar rank the people around her in the bar and the other victors she’s known for years.

 

When Caesar announced District Seven Johanna didn’t know whether to be insulted or not by her score of 9. Blight had actually tried from his account- albeit half-heartedly, he hadn’t argued with the assessors anyway like Johanna had and he had come out with an 8. The rest of the victors had scored what Johanna would have expected, with the exception of Katniss and Peeta who both scored a 12. The only ones who did, outscoring even the careers. Johanna wasn’t sure what Katniss and Peeta had done to score so highly, she hadn’t seen Katniss for longer than a few brief moments since the training room. Hadn’t had anything with the other victor apart than a few stolen kisses since the elevator. Knowing Snow’s current attitude towards Katniss it was likely an attempt by the Game makers to have the victors from Twelve targeted from the outset. Johanna downed the last of the alcohol in the bottle and reached for another hoping to block off thoughts of the Games for one night.

* * *

Johanna was back in the ridiculous tree costume waiting with Blight for their interview segment, Cashmere and Gloss had both been sickening, both of them sucking up to the Capitol. Cashmere had even cried which caused some of the audience of Caesar’s show to weep along with her. Which was absurd, this was the victor who had trapped three of the tributes in her Games in a ravine then set fire to them. Hell, that was a vicious Games. And now here she was crying and claiming to feel sorry for the _Capitol_ when it was them who had put them all here.

 

Beetee said some confusing speech about the permanence of the new rules, which seemed to stump the Capitol audience as much as it did Johanna, he’d have to do better than that to get the Capitol to stop the Games. Finnick’s attempt was better; Johanna was actually entertained when he read a poem to his ‘one true love’. Johanna hadn’t thought Finnick would have a sense of humour to do that, or the intelligence to try and change the Capitol’s mind and get them back in the same way he had been used all these years, letting them believe he loved one of them when in reality he wasn’t talking to any of them. Of course he had had enough practice at that Johanna thought wryly. Then finally Johanna was pushing past the morphlings from Six and taking her place on the stage with Caesar.

 

“We have seen a lot of tears here tonight, but I see no tears in Johanna’s eyes.” Caesar began once the crowd’s applause had died down “Johanna, you’re angry, tell me why.”

Johanna couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Well yes I’m angry. I’m getting totally screwed over here. The deal was if I win the Hunger Games I get to spend the rest of my life in peace.” Johanna turned from Caesar and looked out into the crowd, staring at the faces of everyone who claimed to care for them, who had cheered when they survived their Games. “But now you want to kill me again. Well you know what? Fuck that. **And fuck everyone who had anything to do with it!** ” Johanna shouted. Striding off the stage before the security staff could escort her off.

“All right then. One woman’s opinion.” Caesar said flatly before turning back to the camera with a wide grin. “Who’s next?”

 

Johanna avoids Jingles once she exits the stage, she didn’t need to see his annoyed gaze to know he wouldn’t be happy with how she acted in the interview. And Johanna isn’t in the mood to be berated by someone who at the end of the day is a Capitol citizen and was always one of _them_ over being a help to anyone in Seven any more than she wants to be placated by Blight right now. Which is why Johanna shakes her head at her fellow victor when Blight starts to move to join her in the alcove she has claimed on the outskirts of the set, denying him one of the few places that manages to avoid all the tumult that being backstage of one of Caesar’s shows involves. Johanna wants to be able to stew in her well-deserved anger at the Capitol alone a moment longer before she has to deal with anyone else. Cecelia and Woof’s interviews do nothing to subdue her anger and by the time Bran and Leena from Nine are moving out in their stupid grain themed costumes Johanna is still seething from her interview.

 

Johanna has been mostly ignoring the show since she’d seen Liobam dressed up like a weird Capitol hybrid, his golden curls coiffed to make him look even more lion-like than usual, which was absurd when paired with his and Nan’s sheep themed costumes. Hell, all the livestock they had in Ten and their stylist picked the most gentle of the bunch? Didn’t exactly strike fear into the other victors, or the crowd. Johanna hadn’t paid any attention to the victor’s from Ten’s interviews, and didn’t even notice Seeder and Chaff joining Caesar on stage, too caught up in the drinks she had liberated from one of the nervous runners backstage and her own thoughts, but all that changed when she sees Katniss walk to the stage in an outfit she definitely didn’t wear for the parade. The commanding vision of black leather and harsh lines has been traded for a white… gown. Peeta followed along behind and joins Katniss to conduct their interview together but Johanna can’t take her eyes from the younger victor and stares at her with a growing sense of apprehension.

 

“Now this is a very emotional night for all of us, wouldn’t you say?”

“Now don’t you go crying on me Caesar.” Katniss says to Caesar’s amusement.

“I can’t make any promises!”

“I wouldn’t believe you if you did.” Katniss replies smiling but Johanna can see the truth of her words in her eyes and the bite of her tone.

“Ha! I love it! The girl on fire! So cheeky!” Caesar quickly changes his jovial expression into a more sombre one and turns back to Katniss, “Now Katniss on a more serious note… the outfit you’re wearing, lovely as it may be but this is quite different to what we were all expecting from you-”

“Actually Caesar there’s something I’ve been wanting to do, and I thought I should share it with all of you, who’ve been so helpful and supportive of our love,” Peeta interrupts getting down on one knee and Johanna is dimly aware of the sound of glass breaking and her own hand slowly dripping blood from the cuts, if there is any pain she doesn’t feel it, too focused on the scene playing out before her eyes.  

 

Johanna rushes to find Haymitch who is waiting in the wings looking like he was expecting her. “Did she know about this?” Johanna hissed

“It was her idea.” Haymitch replied smirking at Johanna.

“I want our love to be eternal, Katniss and I, we’ve been luckier than most, we found each other. And we got to have this, even if it was all too short. I wouldn’t have any regrets at all if it weren’t…. if it… if it weren’t for the baby.”

“That however.” Haymitch says toasting Peeta with his flask who is still on one knee and the audience’s gasps and shouts as they stood up to protest against the Games “Is new.”

“Everyone calm down, this is news to all of us.” Caesar tries futilely to take back control of the show and stop the crowd from getting out of hand.

 

Johanna is stood frozen, she can’t believe what she just heard, can’t believe the bread boy would say that when he knows, he _knows_ Katniss is hers. And the pregnancy lie, that was stupid, the Capitol would be sure to test it and they’d know it was false in a heartbeat. But Johanna can’t help the thin sliver of doubt that wonders if there could be any truth to it. If there might be a reason Peeta thinks they won’t be found out in their lie.  


Johanna joins the rest of the victors all returning to the stage, doing her best not to glare at Peeta while the victors are all linking hands, raising them to the sky.

* * *

After Caesar’s interview everything passes in a blur for Johanna, nothing sticking out as memorable or even in focus apart from when she sees a flash of white that she knows to be Katniss still in that damn wedding dress.  Johanna isn’t sure if Katniss drops back away from the others from Twelve or if she manages to corner Katniss but the next thing she knows she’s face to face with the girl on fire and all Johanna can feel is hurt and anger at what she heard on stage tonight.

“I’m surprised to see you here, without your fiancé.” Johanna says bitterly.

“I had to Jo, we all did what we could to try and stop the Games.”

“And if that wasn’t the only way that you could see to stop the Games, would you still do it?”

Katniss stubbornly raises her chin and glares at Johanna, “What does it matter? Pretty soon this won’t matter any way, if the threat of sending me in to the Arena pregnant didn’t get the Capitol to stop this nothing will.”

“There’s still time.” Johanna replies lowly, almost threateningly, “And anything could happen in the Arena, your Games are proof of that.”

The two victors face off against each other, then Johanna is pushing forwards, crashing into Katniss and holding her roughly "You can't marry bread boy." Johanna growls into Katniss’s mouth as her hands raked at the younger victor who answers with a gasp as she arches into Johanna.

“Jo…” Katniss starts breathlessly, her hands coming up to grab onto the older victor, Johanna could feel Katniss holding her tight, almost all of her weight being supported by Johanna as Katniss’s knees buckled while Johanna’s hands continue to rove over every inch of Katniss’s skin she can touch.

“No.” Johanna interrupts, not wanting to hear what Katniss has to say, not confident enough that it would be anything that would put her mind at rest.

 

Johanna pulls away from Katniss, unable to stay with her head so full of doubts and not willing to stay and push for the truth about Katniss and Peeta’s relationship. The last she sees of Katniss is her white dress dirtied and disarrayed with a shell-shocked expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait here, I’ve felt kind of crappy lately and not felt the desire to write for a long while, hopefully this is the start of a change for that though as there’s just the Games chapter(s) left now so the end is in sight –although they aren’t written so… bear with me.  
> And yes every Victor who didn’t already have a name I did take way too long thinking up what to call them, one is a vague references to another book trilogy and the rest are just in some way connected to whatever their district does.


	8. Chapter 8

Johanna slams open the door of Seven’s living quarters and strides through, intending to take advantage of the well-stocked drinks bar and seethe quietly until she could think of a plan to erase what had happened at Caesar’s show from the minds of the Capitol -and while she was at it getting rid of Katniss’s and Peeta’s supposed relationship which had already gone on far too long. Or Johanna would drink until she was more drunk than angry, which was more likely to be the outcome. At least she might be able to erase the night’s events from her own memory if no one else’s. But instead Johanna comes to an abrupt halt when she enters the living area and finds Haymitch casually sipping scotch with Blight. At least Blight has the good manners to look bashful when Johanna glares at him, Haymitch just smirks at the obvious annoyance on Johanna’s expression.

 

“I need to talk to you about the Games.” Haymitch announced before Johanna could say anything.

“I’ll still be watching out for Katniss don’t worry.” Johanna scowled

“There was never any doubt in my mind.” Haymitch drawled. “But it can’t have escaped you notice that the Capitol is weakening its hold on Panem.” 

Johanna rolled her eyes, trust Haymitch to come looking for her after she had had heard Peeta _proposing_ to her soulmate and Katniss actually going along with the ridiculous plan and then Haymitch finds her out to insult her. Although admittedly it had taken Johanna longer than it should have for her to see the signs of dissent from the Districts. “They’re not going to cancel the Games.” Johanna muttered despondently.

“This is bigger than the Games Johanna, I haven’t told you before now because I know utterly focused you’ve been on Katniss-”  

“So you’re going to use Katniss to bring about a rebellion.” Johanna replied scornfully.

“No, we’re going to use Peeta.” Haymitch responds. Johanna gapes at him and Haymitch is quick to take advantage of her silence. “This isn’t about you or me, or even her. This is about the opportunity to finally overthrow the Capitol. People like Peeta, he can make speeches everyone can relate to, he can show emotion at appropriate times and he understands people, he can connect to them without having to resort to unplanned acts of defiance. He would be the best choice for the face of the revolution.”

“Sounds like you’re creating a puppet, what’s the difference between what you’re doing and what Snow has been doing to us?”

“What we’re doing will free Panem from Snow and everything the Capitol have done to us. Everyone in the Districts past Two are finally on the same page and it’s because of them, the riots that happened during their victory tour proves that.”

“Katniss is the one who sang to Rue and threatened the Game makers with having no victor in the 74th Games, she’s the one who inspired the people in the Districts to riot.” Blight spoke up, looking between the other two victors.

“Katniss is uncontrollable, she needs something real for her to show her passion, she can’t fake it and I don’t want to wait for the Capitol to burn a District to the ground before she can deliver a decent speech.” Haymitch drawled, “Katniss has lit the match for the revolution but we can’t contain her, she could burn us just as easily as Snow.”

“So, what? You’ll leave her to die?”

“Of course not. Ideally we’ll get everyone out. But if we can’t, if we have to make a choice-”

“I will kill you if you don’t take Katniss.” Johanna interrupts, her voice low and dangerous. Haymitch raises his eyebrows and stares at Johanna. “Don’t think I won’t do everything I can to protect her, that I will accept _bread boy_ being saved instead of her.”

 

Haymitch stared at Johanna evenly, still casually sipping from his drink as Johanna glowered and Blight tried his best to break the tension between the two victors, but his attempts were either ignored or Johanna’s glare was turned on him so eventually he left them to their stand-off.

* * *

 

Johanna hated the thought of asking Peeta for anything, she especially the idea that she alone wasn’t enough to save Katniss, that she couldn’t protect her. But if anything could help her tip the scales in her and Katniss’s favour she would do it, anything that would increase her odds of getting Katniss out the Arena alive would be vital.

 

“Katniss isn’t here.” Peeta said as soon as he saw Johanna in the doorway.

“I know.” Johanna didn’t mention that she had been keeping a watch on the twelfth floor and had made sure to come when she knew Katniss would be out.

“Er, do you, um, want to come in and wait, or… I mean I’m not sure when she’ll be back. She might have gone to try and find you even.” Peeta stuttered nervously, backing away from Johanna. Johanna grinned at the sight and stalked forwards, Peeta jumped as Johanna slammed the door shut behind her and moved even closer to him.

“Johanna, look, if this is about what I said at Caesar’s show you have to know this isn’t about you, or you and Katniss. I mean, it’s kind of about Katniss, but only because it’s about Katniss and me, I mean how the Capitol thinks we are. I thought this would be our best chance at stopping the Games, at letting us all off from going into the Arena. And then, well Katniss-”

 

And that was the point that Johanna zoned out, as much as Johanna enjoyed seeing the bread boy so obviously nervous of her reaction to his little plan she couldn’t take any more of his chatter about what he had said at Caesar’s interview. Johanna had had enough of the words running through her head as it was. No, as much as she would like to punch the blonde from his head she was there for Katniss not for her.

 

“I’m not here to talk about that.”

“Oh. So, you’re here to actually talk to me and not to cave my head in with an axe.” Peeta visibly relaxed, grinning as he mentioned the axes, as though he didn’t think Johanna was still itching to do just that.

“You got a problem with that?” Johanna snapped

“No, no I’m just surprised, we’re not exactly best friends.”

Johanna snorted “To put it mildly.”

Peeta finally seemed to realise Johanna wasn’t in the mood to play around “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Haymitch wants to rescue you from the Arena.”

“How? Does he have a way out of the Games?”

“That’s not the issue here, I-” Johanna grits her teeth and forces the words out “need your help.”

“Okay…” Peeta replies still unsure where this was going.

“We need to save Katniss. Can I count on you to help me do that, if I need the help?

“Why do we need to save her, I mean if Haymitch has a way for us all to get out of the Arena-”

“No.” Johanna interrupts, “not all, at least that’s not the priority. For some reason that completely eludes me _you’re_ the priority. And I want you to get him to change that.”

“How can I-”

“We share a common interest here. Katniss. And as much as I hate to think about it I know you care about her.”

“Yeah, yeah of course I do.” Peeta’s face softens and Johanna can barely stand to look at him when thinking about Katniss has such an obvious effect on him.

“She saved you during the last Games, you’d be muttation kibble by now if it wasn’t for her.” Johanna added, unable to resist the dig at Peeta during his Games.

“I know.” Peeta replied tension creeping into his tone. “I didn’t ask for her to risk her life to save mine, even if she hadn’t have done I would do whatever I could to get her out of the Games, that’s all I’ve been trying to do.”

“Good.” Johanna said forcefully. “So you’ll tell Haymitch you’ll refuse to cooperate with him unless Katniss is safe. Or that you need her to be out before you’ll let them take you… I don’t know, tell him whatever you want. But make sure he rescues Katniss first.”

 

Johanna didn’t know if she had convinced Peeta, if he would be willing to side with her against Haymitch when she was his rival for Katniss but the next time she entered Seven’s living quarters and saw Haymitch there again she knew she had made the right decision.

 

“I didn’t think you’d use the boy Jo, that’s low even for you.”

“You know me; I go after what I want.” Johanna replied

“Really? Because I seem to remember months of moping while Katniss was pretending to love Peeta where you just watched her on screens.”

Johanna glared at Haymitch and pointedly turned away from him “Blight, remind me why we let our competition enter our living area again.”

“Johanna-” Blight begins exasperated

“No,” Haymitch interrupted holding up a hand wearily, “it’s fine Blight. Panem knows I won’t be able to change Peeta’s mind now anyway. I had hoped you would see the bigger picture Jo, ideally we’d get everyone on our side out. But if we can’t, if we can only get Katniss now… well, you’d better hope she’ll be better at being what we need than I thought. If not, and you’ve sacrificed the lives of all of us in the Districts for your personal desires… well, I don’t know if I could live with that.”

“Then it’s a good job I’m not you isn’t it.” Johanna bites back

“I guess it is.” Haymitch replied staring at Johanna contemplatively before shaking his head and leaving with a last nod to Blight.

“Jo-”

“I don’t want to hear it Blight.” Johanna snaps out, feeling a twinge of guilt at the look on Blight’s face when she stops whatever he was about to say.

* * *

 

Johanna would have thought that after Haymitch and Peeta she would be done with secret plans and would just have to focus on the direct fighting that would take place in the Arena but when Johanna walked into the quarters on the seventh floor after leaving Blight at the training room she froze. Reaching for the axe Johanna had kept close since picking up on the mood of the Gamemakers Johanna looked around warily, knowing something was wrong. Johanna moved slowly through the living areas before pulling up short, sitting amongst the same objects Johanna had seen every day, on the same chair Johanna had used was the President of the Capitol.

 

“Ah, Ms Mason. So nice for you to join me.”

“In my living quarters.” Johanna replies sarcastically

“Well, you are a difficult woman to arrange a meeting with, I know if I had invited you somewhere you would either have not shown up or would have assumed the worst.”

“And I shouldn’t assume the worst now then?”

“Oh no, no, I just wanted a little chat with you. A friendly conversation, one citizen of Panem to another, I’m here for your best interests Johanna-”

“I know why you’re here.”

“Oh, you do do you? Well please, enlighten me. I’m sure the best of the Gamemakers could learn something from the mind of Johanna Mason.”

“It’s about Katniss. It’s always about Katniss.” Johanna replied, anger seeping into her tone

“That girl has always sewn dissent wherever she goes. Yet she always seems to escape the aftermath,” Snow said, Johanna couldn’t tell if his voice was admiring or furious. “Cinna, Seneca Crane… I wonder for how long she will be able to court the flames without being burnt herself.”

“I guess this is win win for you, isn’t it?” Snow looks at Johanna with that perfect blank politicians look. “Oh sure, I mean even if I didn’t know how Katniss had ruined your little Games, how her berry stance had made you all look like fools, it’s not like we ever meant anything to you is it? And even though we’ve been built up by you all to be these heroes, these ‘victors’ for you; if we die horribly, our deaths broadcast to all of Panem, we won’t have died in vain. We’ll have entertained you.”

“You think you have something so special? Yet in the eyes of everyone else she’s in love with Peeta Mellark. Such a charming young man, and so well loved by the public too, and now they’ve announced that they are engaged to be married, and I wonder…” Snow trailed off and stared at Johanna in his arrogant contemplative way before continuing, “I wonder what you would think if you knew the extent of her betrayal to you.”

 

With that Snow presses a button on a slim console that had been in his jacket pocket and a projection appeared on the screen. Johanna was really growing tired of these projections, if the invasion of privacy they had to endure during the Games and in the Arena wasn’t bad enough Johanna now had to live with the knowledge that they were being watched everywhere now.

 

A familiar scene appeared and an image of the trees in Twelve filled the large screen, making Johanna nostalgic for the brief time she had spent there. Johanna readied herself for whatever scene of her and Katniss Snow’s drones had captured, whatever private moment between the two of them he was about to throw back in her face and attempt to tarnish when Gale emerged. Johanna watched as Katniss and Gale walked together through the forest, their comfort and ease with each other obvious in the way they helped each other through the thick vegetation without a word being spoken. Johanna’s stomach churned as she watched the scene, always aware of Snow’s watchful gaze on her.

 

Eventually Katniss and Gale reached wherever they were heading, or maybe it was by silent communication they decided to take a break and the two sat down beside each other

“We have to go Gale, before they kill us. They will kill us.”

“What about our families, or the others, the ones who stay, what happens to them? People are looking to you Katniss.”

“I don’t want anyone looking to me. I can’t help them.”

 

The image skips and Katniss and Gale are returning to Twelve, they’re moving through the Hob, it takes Johanna a moment before she realises that the commotion in the background isn’t the usual hustle and bustle of Twelve’s black market but instead there are Peacekeepers, the stalls are being smashed and people are being arrested and Gale rushes in to save someone from being whipped. Johanna watches as Katniss throws herself at Gale, tries to save him, is almost shot herself, narrowly avoiding it only because Peeta and Haymitch stopped the Peacekeeper.

 

Johanna can’t speak, she stares at the frozen image of Katniss shielding Gale and tries to remind herself that this is everything Snow wanted, he wants Katniss without allies in the Arena, he wants them all divided. But even with this knowledge Johanna can’t help that it hurts. She doesn’t know when this was taken, at what point Katniss was so beaten down by life as a victor she would have left everyone, at what point Johanna still wasn’t enough to keep her here, at what point Katniss didn’t trust her to keep her safe. And Johanna had no way of knowing if Katniss still felt like that now.

 

“Look how little she cares for you. She didn’t ask you to run away with her, and it’s not like you have any family keeping you in Seven, not like Gale, her knight in tattered armour. The one she asked to take care of her family, of her sister when she volunteered. The boy who kept her sister from starving while she was in the Arena making Peeta fall even more in love with her.”

“What do you want from me?” Johanna snarls

“Just for you to have all the facts.” Snow replies mildly serenely, “I’d hate to see something so many of us have worked to build broken because of one person.”

“Are you talking about me or the Capitol?”

Snow just smiled that patronising smile at that and got up to leave “I trust you to do the right thing Johanna.”

 

Johanna is sick of being shown recordings of Katniss, of people trying to manipulate her into doing whatever they wanted, this isn’t how she operates, this isn’t how she won her Games, she did that by being unpredictable, by letting the other tributes see what she wanted them to see. Johanna wonders if now she actually has someone to care about, that she can’t help caring about, that her affections are more obvious than she had thought. Does Snow know what she is going to do now? Can he predict her actions from the years she had been in the Capitol not caring about who was watching her and what they saw her doing?

 

Johanna clenches her jaw Snow obviously wants her to be driven apart from Katniss… but wouldn’t it be better for him if he could prove Katniss and Peeta were lying during their Games, get rid of the positive public feeling they still had and the few people who were outraged over Katniss going into the Arena while pregnant. Unless he really hated being shown to have been beaten by the Districts that much that he would have Katniss stay the course of the lie even while he plotted her death.

 

Of course, there is another theory Johanna thinks as she leaves the room, maybe Snow just wants to fuck with her, throw her off for the Games. Maybe he still doesn’t know what her and Katniss are to each other, he just knows Peeta was a convenient cover. Johanna can feel her head start to ache, she was never one for complex strategizing, you didn’t need to sneak up on trees and a well-placed axe was all she had ever needed in the way of tactics before. She had hoped her second time in the Arena would be the same, but she doubted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not that happy with this chapter but I have been super crappy with updates lately and I needed to post something to get back into the groove of things. Next chapter is the start of the Games, I promise not to take as long to post the next chapter (she said already half doubting herself)


	9. Chapter 9

Johanna and Blight sit in silence as both eat what could be their last meal, neither feel like filling the silence with meaningless words and Johanna is fine with that. In a few hours she will be up against everyone she’s grown to know since her own Games, and grew up with seeing posters and propos plastered all around Seven in the case of the older victors. And she’ll have to make sure she kills them first. She’ll have to kill her friends. And Blight. Blight is probably the only person that truly knows her, Johanna would have liked to include Katniss in that list but since her announcement in Caesar’s show, since Peeta’s little story, she’s not so sure. 

 

Johanna concentrates on filling her belly while she can, so much for thinking winning her Games would mean she wouldn’t ever have to be hungry again. So much for thinking becoming a victor would have given her some protection from the Capitol, they were never accepted by the Capitol, no matter how much they pretend to care about their ‘victors’, their ‘winners’, they still want to see us killed for their entertainment. The avoxes came in to clear their plates all too soon, Johanna sighed, staring unseeing before her before she heard Blight stand up. 

 

“No Jingles?” Blight asked as the two of them started towards the door.

“Well, we know what we’re doing.” Johanna replied shrugging, “why? Did you want a mock tearful send off?”

“I don’t need Jingles for that.” Blight joked, Johanna rolled her eyes in reply. “Haymitch.” Blight exclaimed surprised as they saw the elder victor from Twelve in the elevator. “Where’s Katniss and Peeta?”

“Waiting for me, which is why we don’t have long.” Haymitch replied exiting the elevator and looking over at Johanna.  
Blight looked between Johanna’s purposefully blank face and over at the other victor, “Haymitch this is-”

“You’ve been avoiding me.” Haymitch interrupted, looking over at Johanna.

“What do you want?”

“It’s been so long since we’ve talked, you’ve missed out on quite a lot.”

“What, like how the avoxes have cleaned your stash of hooch out?” Johanna replied snidely.

“No. About what we talked about last time Johanna. We have others who agree. Who will help.”

“I haven’t changed my mind.” Johanna said glaring at Haymitch. “Just because of what they said, what Snow said, doesn’t mean I’m going to choose him over her.”

“Snow?” Blight asked confused.

“I know. Hopefully everyone will be fine-” Haymitch continued ignoring Blight’s question. 

“Everyone?” Johanna interrupted incredulously. 

“Well. Everyone we can.”

“Right. So not everyone. Not the people who will be slaughtered first. Or second. Third. And on and on until-”

“Don’t be childish Johanna. We won’t be able to do anything until we can. And since when have you cared about anyone else?” Haymitch replied dryly.

Johanna glared at that and narrowed her eyes at Haymitch, “Oh, ‘until we can’, very specific.”

“We need certain things in place. I trust you will still help with that?”

“Of course.” Johanna grits out.

“And Blight?” Haymitch asks looking at the victor who had been watching them with confusion

“I don’t know what you two are talking about-”

“Probably for the best.” Johanna murmured. 

“But you know I’m on your side Jo.” Johanna glances over at Blight who returns her gaze with a grin. 

“It’s really not that complicated Blight, I’m sure you’ll be able to pick it all up easily enough.” Haymitch replies. “Somewhere where we aren’t being monitored…” 

“Do they really care at this point?” Johanna asked tiredly.

“We all need allies.” Haymitch says meaningfully, “Even Katniss agrees with that.”

“Oh?” Johanna asks, trying to mask the sudden quickening of her heart that comment brought about. 

“Not the allies most might want… or look for.”

“Who?” Johanna asks suspiciously.

“Three and Four.”

“Three? Nuts and Volts?! Are you serious?”

“It’s who she wants.”

“And Mags?”

“I did say they weren’t the most obvious of allies.”

“Well. She does like to make everything difficult for herself.” Johanna responded bleakly.

“Yeah…” Blight said staring at Johanna who scowled at him before looking back at Haymitch who seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

“Anything else?” Johanna asked the elder victor sharply.

“Nothing pressing.” 

“Nothing that can’t wait until after we’re all in the Arena fighting for our lives?” Johanna asked sarcastically.

“Exactly.” Haymitch responded with a grin stepping back into the elevator. “Good luck you two.”

“Well that was… interesting.” Blight commented as the two victors from Seven waited for the elevator to reappear. Blight started to talk but looking over at Johanna her expression made him change his mind. 

 

All too soon Johanna and Blight are taken by hovercraft to the Arena site. “Well this is it,” Blight said turning to face Johanna as the peacekeepers start prompting Blight to move into another area separate from Johanna. 

“I’ll see you in there.” Johanna replies glibly, quirking her lips into a half grin and staring at Blight in a way that has distressed more than a few fellow victors when Johanna had wanted to distance herself from them.

But Blight doesn’t let Johanna phase him, not for the first time Johanna regrets letting someone else get so close to her, to know that she isn’t always as hostile as she often makes out. “Look Jo, I know the odds are stacked against you, hell, they’re stacked against all of us.” Johanna snorts in amused agreement “but whatever happens in there I want you to know if you need to do something, something that might end things -literally end things.” Blight chuckles half-heartedly at that. “Well, I’ll understand.” 

Johanna just stares at Blight incredulously. “This sounds suspiciously like a goodbye speech, worse yet, a suicide speech. Don’t tell me you’re giving up before the gunshot has started the Games? I expected more from you than that Blight, where’s that ‘fighting victor spirit’?” Johanna ends almost mockingly.

“I know you’ve got more riding on this than I do, you could actually have something outside of this Arena, outside of the Games. If I’m in there and I’m standing between you and your life, or your happiness I won’t hold anything you do against you.” 

Johanna rolls her eyes at that, “All right, you big wuss.”

“I mean it Jo,” Blight says seriously, not letting Johanna push him away. Blight reaches out and enfolds Johanna in a hug that the younger victor awkwardly returns, standing in Blight’s hold stiffly and hesitantly patting Blight on the back.

“Okay that’s enough, break it up.” A peacekeeper announces eyeing the two victors suspiciously.

“Oh, thank Panem.” Johanna quips, swiftly moving away from Blight and dropping his gaze, not able to think about what Blight had said, what that meant with them going into the Arena.

 

As two peacekeepers usher Blight to a separate area he is still looking at Johanna with determination and a degree of feeling that Johanna doesn’t know what to do with, or how to respond. Johanna feels a surge of emotion and feels a level of conflict and confusion Johanna didn’t know she had the capability to do for anyone other than Katniss, all Johanna knows how to do is direct it into hatred for the Capitol and their Games. Johanna didn’t think it was possible to hate the Games more than she already did.

 

Johanna takes a deep breath and the voice in the hovercraft breaks into her awareness, counting down how long until the victors will be placed into the Arena, just another group of tributes for the Capitol’s amusement. At ten seconds to launch a glass tube seals itself around Johanna and the next thing she sees is water. Johanna is standing on a raised platform just big enough for one person to stand on in a large lake, the other victors all on identical platforms. The Cornucopia is in the middle of the circle of victors sitting on a large rocky outcrop. Johanna quickly scans the area past the lake and sees thick vegetation on the beach completely obscuring what might be in there, or how the landscape may change once away from the lake. 

 

Johanna looks for Katniss on the podiums, but they are all so spread out the distance makes it hard for her to distinguish anyone’s features. Johanna spots Enobaria, her gaze fixed on the cornucopia in the centre of their ring of podiums and Mags looking delightedly at the water at her feet. Most of the other victors are glancing around and getting ready for the gunshot to signal the start of the Games. Suddenly the announcer booms and draws Johanna’s attention from the other victors. 

 

“Let the 75th Hunger Games begin. May the odds be ever in your favour. 10. 9. 8. …”

 

Johanna scowls at the tired phrase every Capitol citizen seemed to think made up for the Districts being forced to compete in the Games and does her best to ignore the countdown, still looking for Katniss. Finally she spots the victor from Twelve, and Johanna doesn’t know how to feel about the surge of relief she feels at seeing Katniss in the Arena. She shouldn’t want her soulmate in the Games but after what Snow had said Johanna was half afraid they wouldn’t wait for the Games, wouldn’t leave it to chance -even with the odds so certainly stacked against the victors from Twelve and they would do something to Katniss out of sight of every citizen in Panem who is viewing the Games right now. 

 

It looks like Katniss has seen her too, Johanna thinks Katniss is trying to tell her something but all she can make out is the word ‘Peeta’ when the gunshot blast signals the start of the Games. Johanna jumps into the water and lets out a curse at the sudden freezing temperature almost swallowing the water in the process. Johanna doesn’t know what Katniss was trying to tell her, she has no idea on the feelings of her soulmate, whether the younger girl is still buying into the story they’ve weaved between her and Peeta or whether ending back in the Arena has made Katniss see it’s futile to try and appease the Capitol. Johanna forces herself to stop thinking about Katniss when she realises that she still hasn’t made it to the Cornucopia and concentrates on swimming. Focusing on her own Games has the added benefit of stopping Johanna entertaining the idea Katniss might not make it through the early frantic bloodshed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been forever. I'm terrible, and sorry. And terribly sorry. Next chapter will be the action, this one was mostly getting me back into the swing of writing this fic. I've started on the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long -definitely not as long as this one took anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for descriptions of violence ahead, this chapter will probably be the worst it’s going to get in terms of graphic violence.

Johanna makes it to the rocky outcrops jutting up out of the water and quickly scans the immediate area before climbing up, her eyes are drawn to Katniss, standing on the far side of the Cornucopia, the younger victor already has a bow in her hand, drawn and poised to fire. Johanna notices someone she can’t make out at this distance stumbling over the rocks, an arrow sticking from their leg. Before Johanna can sigh in relief at Katniss being alive and armed a sudden movement behind the victor from Twelve draws her eye, the male victor from Five is rushing towards Katniss with a raised spear in hand. Johanna’s heart thunders in her chest, before Johanna can even shout a warning a trident is thrown past Katniss and thuds into the chest of the male from Five, even though Finnick’s back is to Johanna she knows the smug expression the victor from Four is bound to have as the cannon booms signalling the death. 

 

Johanna turns away from Katniss and heads towards the centre of the Cornucopia trying to avoid any other victors that are still hoping to grab a weapon or something useful before fleeing into the forests surrounding the lake. As Johanna rounds a turn she catches sight of Brutus and pauses, knowing he would do anything he could to take out as many victors as possible during this early phase. Relying on brute strength now to overcome his lack of cunning or general forest survival skills. Johanna lets out a breath in relief when she realises Brutus hasn’t spotted her, the burly victor from Two is far too engaged in pulling one of the victors from Six towards him, laughing at his useless attempts to prise off Brutus’s grip. Brutus picks up the emaciated victor from Six out of the water as if he weighted nothing more than one of Brutus’s preferred hunting spears, which he probably didn’t, and dashing his head into the rocky floor. The cannon booms, but Brutus continues until Bentley’s skull is little more than tissue clinging to hair. 

 

Johanna keeps going, keeps heading towards the centre, Enobaria and Chaff are facing off against each other on one of the spokes branching off from where the Cornucopia is, Johanna spots Gloss and Cashmere helping each other load up with weapons and changes direction, hoping to avoid the two Careers. As Johanna edges around the side of the Cornucopia she spots Woof still in the water struggling to climb out on to the slippery rocks, Liobam from Ten rushes over and blocks Johanna’s view of Woof, for a second Johanna isn’t sure whether Liobam is attempting to help the elder victor but the waves splashing around Liobam’s form suggest that’s not the case. Liobam shifts and Johanna can see him still pushing down on a now still Woof, Woof didn’t even see Liobam coming, he was just trying to get out of the water. Johanna turns away and keeps heading further in, finally Johanna manages to get her hands on her weapons, the instant the handles are in her hands Johanna lets out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in. Johanna tosses the axes a few times, turning the weapons around and getting a feel for them, feeling instantly more confident and more like the threat the Capitol view her as. 

 

The cannon booms and Johanna’s confidence drains out of her body, with that sound she remembered it wasn’t just herself she had to fight for, had to protect. Johanna looks around desperate to catch a glimpse of Katniss, to make sure that it wasn’t her who the cannon was marking. But while Johanna is searching for Katniss she is completely unguarded when Leena charges into her, catching her unawares as the victor from Nine tugs at the axes held lax in Johanna’s hands. Johanna is knocked back by the momentum from Leena hitting her, she loses her balance and the two victors end up grappling on the floor. Johanna kicks at Leena and manages to break away from the other victor, twisting the axes away from Leena’s grip. Johanna staggers to her feet and watches Leena warily as she does the same, the victor from Nine’s eyes are wild as she takes in the carnage around her. Leena drifts closer to Johanna almost as though she is searching for comfort from the victor from Seven. 

 

Just like everyone else in the Arena Leena joined hands with the other victors during Caesar’s interview but now she is pushed back into the blood and violence of the Games and forced to fight along with the rest of them. Leena looks like she might be rethinking her attack on Johanna, the victor from Nine glances around and looks like she might turn tail and run and Johanna sees her chance. Unlike Katniss shooting the victor in the leg Johanna doesn’t aim to injure, Johanna knows the people she can trust in the Arena are few and far between and she isn’t willing to take the chance that Leena won’t attack herself or Katniss later. Johanna strikes out with one of her axes but the sound of Katniss’s voice crying out causes Johanna to falter, letting Leena dodge the attack. 

 

Johanna rushes Leena and pins the victor from Nine, her axe at her throat as Johanna finds Katniss. Katniss is looking at the lake and Johanna follows her gaze to find Bran, the male victor from Nine, struggling in the water with Peeta, Leena elbows Johanna in the ribs while she is distracted, doubling Johanna over, Johanna turns back to Leena and grapples with the female from Nine. The cannon booms and Johanna’s attention is diverted from her fight. Both Peeta and Bran are underwater, Johanna can’t help but search out Katniss who’s watching the water intently and the part of Johanna that worries about what is between Katniss and Peeta grows as she notices the fear on Katniss’s face. Another heavy hit by Leena knocks the air from Johanna’s lungs and the victor from Seven struggles to stay out of the water. As soon as Johanna regains her footing she slashes at Leena, the victor from Nine throws up her arms to protect herself and when Johanna draws back her axes blood is dripping from the edge and dropping onto the wet rocks below. Leena’s eyes focus on the axes in Johanna’s hand, following the rivulets of her blood mixing with the water on the rocks. Leena screams and rushes at Johanna who sidesteps the attack, Leena overbalances and struggles not to fall from the rocks. Johanna is quick to press her advantage, pushing against Leena, keeping the other victor off balance as she brings one hand to Leena’s neck pushing her axe into the soft skin at the base of her throat. Blood rushes from the wound, coating Johanna’s hand and arm as she lets go of Leena and lets the female from Nine fall. Leena twists and stares confusedly up at Johanna, her mouth gaping open as she gently slips into the water. The cannon booms and Johanna looks back over to where Katniss is, but when Johanna sees Finnick dragging a spluttering Peeta on to the rocky ledge and Katniss’s emotion filled expression she turns away, wiping Leena’s blood from her axes as she steps away from the body. 

 

It’s only been a few minutes in the Arena, but like during Johanna’s own Games the adrenaline coursing through her body and the violence that happens at the start makes it feels like Johanna has been in the Arena much longer than she has. Johanna starts to head towards the side, away from the careers still circling the Cornucopia, trying to figure out a way to head round to Katniss without drawing Cashmere and Gloss’s attention and sees Beetee and Wiress stuck on an outcrop with Liobam stalking towards them. Johanna ignores the two victors from Three at first but remembering Haymitch’s words about who Katniss wanted for allies Johanna pauses, sighing as she heads in their direction. 

 

As Johanna moves closer to the group of victors Liobam notices her arrival and looks torn, he glances back at Beetee, who’s crouched down on the rock staring worriedly at Liobam, and Wiress who’s looking unconcerned as she stares at the treetops moving in the wind in the distance. Johanna raises an axe and Liobam scowls before jumping into the water on the opposite side and swimming away from the rocks. Johanna reaches the victors from Three and tries to get them to move away from the Cornucopia area. Beetee looks worriedly at Johanna for a second then relaxes until for some reason he decides to head closer to the Cornucopia and the bloodshed occurring there.

 

“Come on” Johanna shouts annoyed at their resistance, Wiress seems to snap out of her previous apathy and claws at Johanna, “For Panem’s sake, I’m trying to help!” Johanna growls out. 

“Help us by letting me go!” Beetee answers, still fighting to get away from Johanna who’s struggling to keep a hold on the two victors from Three and watch her surroundings for any potential attack. 

“You two should have run away from the Cornucopia first chance you got.” 

“Tools for trade, trade them for killing. Beetee and Wiress Beetee needs his wires.” Wiress babbles. Johanna looks at her in disbelief. 

“Why, oh why did Katniss want you two?” Johanna mutters glaring at the two unruly victors. 

“Katniss, oh yes, we will help fuel Haymitch’s fire.” 

“Yeah, I’ll take you to Katniss.” Johanna agrees, quick to grab onto something that could enable her some form of control over Wiress. “Beetee you-” words fail Johanna as she looks around for Beetee and sees him scrambling towards a large rock on the outskirts of the Cornocopia’s platform with Brutus grinning as he pursued the elder victor. 

Johanna rushes towards Beetee and tries to pull him away but he refuses to turn away from that damned rock. “Come on you idiot.” Johanna grits out gripping onto Beetee’s wetsuit and trying to pull him out of the way of Brutus, but Beetee keeps moving forward and slips out of Johanna’s grasp. 

“Helping me hunt Johanna?” Brutus calls mockingly, “I don’t really need it with these two but if you’re thinking of joining the winning side maybe we can come to an arrangement, there’s still a few things that the viewers haven’t seen happening in the Games.” Brutus leers.

“Damn!” Johanna curses as she lunges for Beetee but the older victor is quicker than she expects and he reaches the rock before Johanna can grab him back, he picks up rolls and rolls of some useless pieces of wire, too thin to be strong enough to stop any humans in a tripwire, too brittle looking to use for snares. Johanna curses the victor from Three again for his actions before a spear comes whistling down landing exactly in between Johanna and Beetee. 

“Now, now, you know I don’t like to be ignored Johanna.” 

“Get moving.” Johanna grunts out as she pushes the now still Beetee back in the direction they came, away from Brutus. Beetee staggers under the force of Johanna’s push but thankfully moves away. “Aren’t there other victors still around here you need to pick off?”

“A few lambs still for the slaughter.” Brutus agrees, looking over at Nan who’s daintily jumping from one rock to another, weighed down by an oversize sword she’s holding in both hands. “Why do you want those two?” Brutus asks, his eyes narrowing.

“Shields.” Johanna replies casually, edging slowly away from the victor from Two.

“Pretty scrawny shields.” 

“Well the good ones were already taken.” 

Brutus raises another spear and makes a show of gauging its weight. Johanna recoils and Brutus laughs, a shout from Cashmere coming from somewhere behind the Cornucopia has Brutus turning away from Johanna. “You’ll be seeing me again soon Johanna, and you’ll want to reconsider that arrangement we talked about.”

 

Johanna turns back to Beetee and they make their way to where they left Wiress, Beetee still clutching the coils of wire he risked his life for. Once they reach Wiress the elder victor touches the thin metal Beetee is holding with excitement and glances between Johanna and Beetee.

 

“Well I’m glad someone’s pleased with your contribution to this.” Johanna says dryly. “Come on, let’s get away from here.” Johanna sits on one of the rocks and slides into the water looking expectantly up at the two from Three.

“Wiress and I aren’t the strongest of swimmers.” Beetee comments after a pointed pause.

“All I ask is that you two float.” 

“We all float down here.” Wiress replies almost dreamily.

Johanna and Beetee glance at each other, “Right… well, that was sufficiently weird Nuts, come on into the water now and we’ll test that out together.

 

The two victors from Three cumbersomely slid into the water and bobbed over to where Johanna was Johanna quickly discovered that Beetee’s admittance of his and Wiress’s swimming abilities was a gross exaggeration, Johanna probably spent more time circling around the victors from Three than swimming towards the distant beach, no wonder they took so long to get from their podiums to the Cornucopia Johanna thought annoyed when she had to make another circle back to Nuts and Volts when the two started to get too far behind her. While they were swimming away from the Cornucopia Johanna hears the cannon boom and her stomach twists as she worries that it might have been for Katniss. Eventually the three made it over to one of the beaches curving around the large lake, Johanna pulled Wiress and Beetee up into the shallows and helped them walk through the currents still pulling at their legs until the three finally made it to dry land.

 

“Right. Now that we have some distance from all the crazy going on over there… What in Panem’s name were you doing?!” Johanna yelled at Beetee.

“I was gathering this.” Beetee holds up the wire as though that’s a reasonable explanation.

“And why, for Panem’s sake, is that worth the two of us almost getting killed by Brutus?”

“This wire is of my own design.” Beetee replies as though that explains everything.

“Right. So… useless.” Johanna retorts, Beetee starts to interrupt, his face taking on an expression of indignation, “Oh, I’m sorry. I mean useless unless we need to rewire something, maybe fix a few of the cameras the Gamemakers have installed.”

“It’s every bit as useful as those archaic pieces of scrap metal you are carrying around.” Beetee says affronted. 

“I didn’t get anything.” Wiress remarks.

“Well Beetee may as well have done the same as you Nuts.” Johanna snarks.

“Thank you, Johanna.” Wiress replied sincerely, clutching at Johanna’s hand as she surged up in front of the group.

“I wish the sane one trusted me as quickly as Nuts does.” Johanna sighs.

“Wiress isn’t crazy she’s…very intuitive.” Beetee trails off, watching as Wiress picks up a pebble and stares at it intently. “Of course she is very old.”

“Like I said; nuts.” Johanna responds scanning the treeline as they move further up the beach.

“So, what’s the plan?” Beetee asks looking at Johanna. “There is a plan isn’t there?” 

“Of course there’s a plan.” Johanna snaps.

“One that’s more elaborate than simply ‘finding Katniss’?”

“What’s your plan then Volts?” 

“I have a plan.” Wiress comments.

Johanna sighs and walks ahead of the two victors from Three. “The plan is do what I tell you and I’ll keep you alive until we can meet up with Katniss.”

“I hardly see why we should do what you say.” Beetee responds.

“Maybe because the two of you would already be dead by now if it wasn’t for me.” Johanna retorts annoyed.

“This is very different to what Haymitch talked about.” Beetee remarks as he shifted his wire from one shoulder to the other.

“Yeah, well, Haymitch kept a lot of things to himself.” Johanna replied dryly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this, an update that doesn't need an accompanying apology? Weird. 
> 
> -Quick Q for those of you who post works on here, when I paste to the rich text format now my punctuation all turns into weird symbols, is there a simple fix for this?


	11. Chapter 11

The cannon booms. And abruptly brings Johanna from where she had unknowingly retreated inside herself, traveling on autopilot as she moved through the thick vegetation of the Arena. Doing her best to distance herself from where she was before the Games itself brought her back with a bang. Johanna catches her breath and tried to calculate who the canon might have been heralding, who was looking in dire straits when she and the victors from Three left the cornucopia, who had low odds of surviving the games. Who else could it be instead of Katniss.

 

“About that plan-” Beetee started, puffing out short breaths caused by hurrying to get within easy talking distance of Johanna.

“I told you. It’s staying alive.” Johanna interrupted tersely.

“It’s just that we’ve been walking for hours now, and if anything we’re even further away from Katniss than when we started.”

“How do you work that one out?” Johanna stops abruptly and glares at the victor from Three, glancing over at Wiress who was trailing behind the two of them, bending down every now and again to examine some of the foliage in the Arena.

“We exited the lake at a different section than did Katniss and Peeta, it stands to reason that they, like us, would walk away from the lake so as to put distance between themselves and the careers -who historically camp out at the Cornucopia for as long as is useful for them to strip it of weapons, or even make a camp there.”

“Well you’ve said it yourself then; we know Katniss and Finnick won’t be near the lake.”

“And Peeta.” Wiress adds, finally catching up with the other two victors.

“They won’t be near the lake, and neither are we. So once we’ve put a little distance between ourselves and the careers we’ll start heading round and meet up.” Johanna replied, ignoring Wiress’s comment.

“We have no idea how big the Arena is, or which direction they will travel, we could walk for days and never find them, each group travelling in a continuous circle. It’s unreasonable to suggest we’ll just bump into them.”

“What’s your plan then? Hope for divine intervention? Maybe a generator and a hovercar to go with that bundle of wire you picked up at the Cornucopia?”

“Good idea.” Wiress agrees looking up at the sky, “any intervention would be lovely though. They don’t create badness to give us.”

Johanna turns to look at Wiress her eyebrows raised waiting for some sort of clarification but Johanna quickly realises her mistake of looking for Nuts for anything resembling sense and turns to Beetee.

“I believe she is referring to sponsors. None of the items they can purchase, at least from the previous Games, were of a negative nature.”

“Yeah, well, the Gamemakers can create as much weirdly bad nature as they want. And they’re the rulers of the Arena.” Johanna replied turning away from the two victors from Three to examine the section of the Arena they were in.

“Are they?” Beetee asked thoughtfully. “Or is it those of us inside with the means to turn the tide and the ability to make real change winning over the public the real rulers?”

Johanna huffs out a laugh. “The real rulers making change? Us? I’m gonna go with a big ‘no’ there Volts. Nice idea though. Now… what do you say we head off in this direction.” Johanna indicates a slightly easier looking path through some evenly spaced trees off to their side.

“I think westwards would be more likely to generate a meeting with the rest of our party.” Beetee responded after a quick scan of the route Johanna indicated.

“It was more of a hypothetical question. Logic might suggest we go that way, but those cliffs in the distance will be near impossible for you two to climb and probably filled with some sort of trap or pitfall from the Gamemakers, while this way is relatively easy going, even Nuts will be able to keep up if she stops looking at every blade of grass we pass. And besides, people -Katniss especially- are anything but logical. The lake is the only landmark we all know about, we can’t move too far away from it.”

 

Beetee looked set to argue his point but Johanna continued on the way she had suggested and the victors from Three were faced with either going it alone or following. Johanna was listening out carefully for any sounds from behind her and grinned to herself when she heard the two making their way along the route Johanna had already taken. Johanna slowed her pace slightly, just so it would be easier to keep an eye on the two of them she told herself, and soon enough the quiet grumbling from Volts at the pace they were travelling at and Nuts’ occasional random nonsensical outbursts filled in as the background noise of the Arena for Johanna.

 

The three continued in the direction Johanna had suggested- well, suggested decided and enforced the direction onto the others. Any further debate about Johanna’s plan fell silent in the face of the Arena and, Johanna assumed, Volts’ complete lack of anything resembling a useful, workable-in-the-real-world plan. Besides, Nuts and Volts weren’t in the best of shape, Johanna was half considering making the two of them some sort of sledge or wheelchair. It would probably take less time for her to carry them than it was currently taking them all to walk along an easy trail. If their slow pace and the occasional out of breath puffs she heard from the victors from Three were anything to go by the main reason she was currently being blessed with silence from Nuts’ insane thoughts and Volts’ ridiculous insights into what they should be doing- as if he had any real idea about how to track and stay hidden in wooded areas- not that there were any trails to follow at this stage, but that was beside the point- was their lack of breath to be wasted on talking. It was odd to be back in the Arena at all, but what Johanna found most strange, even with their silence, was having company in the Games. People she trusted not to stab her in the back -of course if either of them tried Johanna was sure she could stop them with minimal effort on her part.

 

As the victors travelled through the Arena the already thinning trees began to give way to sparser vegetation. Thin spindly trees stuck up from rocky ground as though every inch into sunlight was a herculean effort, the occasional hardy bush spread across the dirt rather than upwards, all of which meant less cover from any of the other victors they might come across- or from any of the Gamemaker’s attacks. Johanna wouldn’t admit it but to the others but she was starting to doubt the wisdom of taking this route, the victor from Seven was trying her best to keep her and the two victors following her at least someway hidden from anyone gazing across the horizon in their direction, but it was proving more and more difficult as time went on and the trees dwindled around them until they were completely exposed to the elements as well as to prying eyes.

 

“Storm’s coming.” Wiress stated, breaking the silence. Johanna looked back at the two victors from Three to see Beetee cleaning his glasses before replacing them on his nose and joining Wiress in staring up at the sky.

“Real smart move to stare at the sky while we’re in an Arena filled with people who want to kill us.”

“Still, it’s true that changeable weather can also affect survival.” Beetee commented levelly, “Especially considering the lack of shelter around us.”

Johanna bristled at that, was Volts still thinking they should have climbed up those cliffs even while walking a level incline almost finished him and Nuts off? “Yeah, if you’re worried about death by a cold sure. But I think we can hold out on curling up in a ball and giving up for now. At least while the sun’s still high in the sky. We’ll find shelter before the temperature drops.”

“I don’t think that’s a regular storm.” Beetee said still looking up at the sky.

“Well most weather _is_ created by the Gamemakers in the Arena. I would have thought you’d know that.” Johanna glanced around the three of them, making sure they were still alone in this part of the Arena before glancing up at the sky. “That… looks like snow.” Johanna said hesitantly.

“In direct sunlight. And the temperature hasn’t changed.” Beetee agreed still staring up at the curling clouds of what appeared to be snow slowly drifting down from the sky.

“Well at least we’ll get some cover from it.” Johanna said turning her eyes back to scan the horizon where the more immediate threats from the Arena would appear.

Eventually the snow comes close enough to the ground that they can all agree that it is in fact snow falling in the bright sun and warm weather of the Arena. “Snow rarely falls in the Capitol.” Beetee says thoughtfully.

“Guess the Gamemakers are just showing off for the viewers?” Johanna replies, a hint of confusion in her tone. “Not sure what the point of fake snow is apart from to show they can make it.”

 “They want us to end in ice instead of fire.” Wiress mused.

“Rather snow than fire.” Johanna retorts dismissively, too used to Nuts’ weird comments to think any more about what she had said.

 

As though the Gamemakers had been waiting for just that comment a large flake finally breaks away from the swirling mass of snowflakes and falls down close to the group of victors. Johanna holds out her hand to catch it, thinking perhaps they could use this little show from the Gamemakers to their gain and collect the snow to melt into drinking water. Johanna looks at the flake on her raised out palm for a second, wondering why she can’t detect any change in temperature from it, or what the point is in the Gamemakers making fake snow that’s not even cold, when the flake starts to melt. As the liquid spreads out on Johanna’s skin a burning sensation spreads along with it. In the time it took for the snow to melt on Johanna’s hand and for the victor to register what was happening the snowstorm has hit the group in full force. Beetee and Wiress are calling out in pain and Johanna feels as though fire is racing along her skin as more and more snow hits her, the liquid seeping through the wetsuit outfit the victors were given to wear becoming trapped against their bodies.

 

"The lake!” Johanna shouts as the storm above them hits with a vengeance.

 

There was no cover to shelter under, nothing to use as any sort of barrier from the burning snow. They race forward, not paying attention to where they’re going. It’s a wonder the three of them stay together Johanna thinks, as the wind whipped the whirling flakes of snow around them, blurring her vision. Johanna can barely see three feet in front of her, she shouts out for Wiress and Beetee, hoping the other two can follow her voice, although she doesn’t know where to lead them other than away from the burning snow lighting her skin on fire. The three of them started running to where Johanna thought the lake would be, they had walked away from their entry point into the trees and had no real idea of how far away the lake was from where they currently were. Johanna had to fight against her instincts to run full pelt to try and stop the burning as even with the pain of the snow as incentive the victors from Three were unable to keep to a fast pace. And Johanna couldn’t let herself forget what had caused their pain, or where they were, and kept a firm grip on her axes certain she would hurl them at anyone she met that wasn’t Katniss without a second thought while the flames from the meltwater licked at her skin.

 

After what seemed like an eternity of pain Beetee cries out “There!”

 

The lack of cover finally worked to their advantage and Johanna changes course slightly, heading to a dip in the landscape that Beetee noticed. It could be anything, a cliff, a sudden drop into a trap, but Johanna keeps running, no power to think of anything other than the fire coursing over her skin. Johanna breathes a sigh of relief as she spots the lake, leaving Wiress and Beetee behind as she puts on a burst of speed to reach the water. Johanna jumps in without a thought, the breath rushing out her body at the impact and the victor from Seven stiffens, muscles spasming and barely even capable of refilling her lungs with air. When she eventually manages to take a breath Johanna instantly lets it out again in a scream.

 

Wiress stops at the sound, tugging on Beetee’s arm to make him pause, the two victors from Three still on the shore, horror washing over their faces as they watch Johanna writhing in pain in the lake. The snow is still falling, Wiress and Beetee are only getting more covered by the burning snow and the water from the lake instead of washing away the burning meltwater only made it stronger, spreading all over Johanna’s body instantaneously. Beetee looks around frantically, searching for cover, for anything. Wiress’s face stays locked on Johanna, the older victor takes a step forward towards Johanna but this time Beetee stops her pulling her back. Wiress doesn’t seem to register Beetee and keeps trying to move forward to Johanna when the backwards momentum from Beetee causes her to slip into the dark mud beside the lake. Wiress gasps and Beetee moves to pull her back up but the older victor stops him, lying down further in the mud and pulling Beetee along with her. Beetee tips into the mud and as soon as he touches it he realises it’s dulling the pain from the snow.

 

“Johanna! The mud!”

 

Johanna distantly hears Beetee through the pain, she manages a glance at the shore and sees Beetee gathering mud into his hands and coating his body in it while Wiress is rolling around in the mud looking more like a swamp creature than a human. Johanna groans loudly, summoning every tiny piece of willpower she has as she pushes her body to move, slowly edging towards the shore. Even the short distance to the land looks impossible to reach to Johanna in her current state but she grits her teeth, yelling out with every push forward that brings another wave of water into her body. Johanna finally makes it to the edge and she claws at the land, the earth coming off under her fingers soothing her hands slightly, giving her a renewed drive to get herself out of the water. Johanna crawls out of the lake, her body feels like it’s filled with fire, it’s hard to move her limbs and she’s gasping with the effort it takes. Johanna hits a patch of mud and feels hands on her, pushing cool earth onto her burning flesh. After a moment Johanna is able to move easier and starts coating herself in the mud, the other hands retreating and Johanna looks up to see Wiress and Beetee backing away from her both covered in mud.

 

“Get a good enough feel there, Volts?” Johanna croaks out, falling back on the ground, the burning sensation finally leaving her body.

“What! We were helping! The mud-” Beetee stops himself with a shake of his head and pulls off his glasses now covered in mud and goes to clean them on his torso before stopping at the sight of it being equally as mud-covered as his glasses. “Let’s stay close to the lake.” Johanna’s eyes widen at that and eyes the lake with unease. “The mud is thickest around the water’s edge if we need another layer to stop the snow.”

 

Johanna nods but still eyes the water apprehensively as they walk around the edge of the lake, one of the group pausing every now and again to add more mud to their bodies. After a while they find themselves back in an area with thick rainforest like vegetation, the snow is either gone or confined to the barren area of the Arena. A single flash of lightning streaks across the sky hitting somewhere in the Arena. Causing the three of them to stop suddenly. Johanna looks at Beetee and Wiress, the former shrugs and the latter appears to be counting something. Johanna shakes her head,

 

“Guess that’s it? At least we’re nowhere near where the lightning hit.”

“I agree. One unnatural weather event is more than enough for me.” A lightning storm starts cutting off what Beetee was saying and everyone looks to the sky.

“They’re taking crazy weather too far, first snow now a lightning storm.” Thunder rumbles* underscoring her remark as though it was proving her point, Johanna looked up searching for rainclouds but it didn’t look like the Gamemakers were creating anything other than lightning.

 

Johanna is poised, ready to run for cover, despite the usual rule about not sheltering under a tree during a storm she isn’t ready to be hit with whatever messed up weather the Gamemakers have concocted again. But the storm doesn’t seem to be aimed to harm them, there’s no rain, the other streaks of lightning do nothing but lighten the sky. Johanna decides if something’s not actively trying to kill her then the best course of action in the Arena is to ignore it and she pauses to stretch out her limbs, taking no mind of the lightning storm as she watches the mud cracking along her arms where it’s dried. The other two come to a stop beside Johanna, Wiress drops to the floor and starts picking at the mud on her clothing when a cannon booms. Killing the peace that had fallen between them. Johanna looks around as though she might be able to see who the cannon had been firing for, worry spreading in her chest. If a simple weather storm had that effect on her group what dangers had they cooked up for Katniss? Johanna is drawn from her worry by Beetee moving too close to the edge of the lake. Johanna moves to call him when he stops and looks contemplatively at the water. Johanna watches as he dips his glasses into the lake and brings them up, carefully rubbing at the muddy lenses with his fingers. Johanna’s eyes glance towards Beetee’s face which isn’t showing any sign of pain and back down at him leaning back over the lake.

 

“I think it’s fine now.” Beetee says, unnecessarily in Johanna’s mind, as he dips his hand slowly into the lake, swirls of dark brown water coming away from his hand as he moves it in the water.

“No shit.” Johanna replies, arms folded, staring at the lake.

Wiress all but dances forward and climbs into the lake, laughing as she splashes Beetee. Johanna clenches her jaw and moves determinedly towards the lake, faltering for a second at the edge before stepping in and busying herself with cleaning the mud from her body and hair. After another poorly aimed splash from Wiress makes Johanna jump the victor from Seven snaps. “This isn’t a fucking game Nuts, can we at least try to be a little quiet, the Gamemakers poison traps aren’t the only things in the Arena that can kill us.”

Beetee looks over his glasses at Johanna but doesn’t say anything.

“What?” Johanna asks moving her glare from Nuts to Volts. “She’s gonna get us killed if she keeps that racket up.”

 

After that the three move on again, travelling mostly in silence, apart from the occasional murmured discussion about directions. Beetee seems to be glancing Johanna’s way more often than before and all it does is piss off the victor from Seven. Wiress give the impression of being oblivious to the tension and is seemingly content to pass through the much denser foliage with no comment to anyone, unless they were a tree and that in Nuts’ world clearly meant they were worthy of a pat and a whispered conversation. Johanna rolled her eyes again when she saw Nuts in deep conversation with another inanimate object and started to mentally map out how long they could keep going at this rate, not that the victors from Three were keeping a very good pace as it was, but all they had been able to eat and drink so far were some fruits Johanna had recognised as being safe and a small stream that didn’t appear connected to the lake. Beetee had voiced concern about trying anything without thorough testing but Johanna had pointed out the Gamemakers had quicker and more visually impressive ways to kill them if they wanted and catching Weil’s disease was the least of their worries. Johanna checked their surroundings again and decided here was as good a point as any to stop.

 

“We may as well set up camp here, the sun’s starting to set and besides it’s not as if we know where we’re going.”

 

Johanna thought Beetee might have something to say about her decision, he had with almost everything else she had said, but he just dropped to the floor, too happy to not to have to take another step to start an argument. Johanna stares up at the trees but knows Wiress and Beetee won’t be able to stay up there during the night. So instead she directs them to making as inconspicuous a camp as possible, Beetee gets to his feet with a groan and follows after Wiress while Johanna climbs one of the trees to get an idea of where they are in the Arena and to make sure there are no Careers or other victors in the area. Johanna’s childhood spent scaling the giant trees in Seven means climbing this tree is easy going, Johanna quickly shimmies up the tree and takes in the view from the top. In the distance all Johanna can see is a blending of shades of green tree tops, the low sun glints off the lake to the left of them but the immediate surroundings around them, as everything else is quiet and empty of anyone. Johanna fights back an unexpected surge of disappointment that she can’t see anyone and spends a long time settled in the tree scanning the landscape, trying to convince herself it’s better to not see Katniss than to see the Career pack.

 

“Anything?” Beetee asks when Johanna descends.

Johanna shakes her head, eyeing Wiress’ and Beetee’s attempt at setting up camp with amusement. “Nothing.”

 

The ridiculous Capitol tune sounds signalling that the list of fallen victors will soon be broadcast and everyone’s attention was immediately diverted. Johanna watches the sky with baited breath, cursing the fact that Katniss is from Twelve and that she has to wait until the end before her heart can beat normally again. While Johanna had been moving through the Arena, trying to keep Nuts and Volts alive she had something else to occupy her mind, but now she had nothing to do except watch the sky and hope that she didn’t see Katniss. The quiet victor from Five is shown first, Johanna isn’t even sure of his name, Tesla she thinks.  Then as Bentley from Six’s face lights up the sky, showing him cleaner and younger and with eyes that look bright and intelligent gleaming back at Johanna Johanna holds her breath. But when the canon fires again it’s Woof and Cecelia from Eight that look down on her, not Blight. Bran and Leena’s images follow, Johanna can almost feel Leena’s skin under her hands as they grappled and the sound of the axe thudding home into the other victor’s flesh, her movements slowing as the blood rushed out of the wound faster and faster. Johanna closes her eyes, thinking for a second that the Capitol were running the scene along with Leena’s picture but the mental images continued playing across the back of her eyelids. Only Nan from District Ten is shown, then Seeder from Eleven. Johanna waits, breath held, heart thudding in her chest, desperately trying to remember and count the cannon blasts she heard throughout the day, Johanna thought there had only been one cannon blast after the bloodbath at the Cornucopia but she can’t be sure. The time seems to be dragging out forever, but the canon is silent and no further victors are shown in the sky.

 

Johanna allows herself a moment to feel joy before bringing herself back to the Games, counting out who’s left. Katniss, Blight. The careers. Unfortunately all four of them are still alive. Nuts and Volts, despite their best efforts at that Johanna thought glumly, thinking back to the Cornucopia and trying to convince the victors from Three to come with her. Finnick and Mags from Four, who’re hopefully still with Katniss. One from Five, One of the victors from Six, Liobam from Ten, Chaff from Eleven. And Peeta.  The loyalties of Five Six Ten and Eleven are anyone’s guess now. Chaff was friendly with Haymitch on the outside but that doesn’t count for anything in the Arena Johanna thinks to herself.

 

After the Capitol’s broadcast the mood in the camp is even more subdued than it had been. Johanna was never one for small talk at the best of times and even though she knows Katniss is safe for now seeing so many of her- well, they weren’t quite friends Johanna thought to herself, but she knew them all and they had all been through this hell before, and thought they were safe from it, and now they were dead. Johanna tries to empty her mind but an annoying low murmur prevents her, Johanna tries to block it out but the initial detection of the sound has amplified Johanna’s awareness of it.

 

“Will you _stop_ Nuts, I’m trying to sleep.”

“Face, arms hands, moving, no can’t move, can’t apart from when it runs.” Nuts’ voice rose from the low murmuring that had irritated Johanna but it still didn’t make any sense.

“One of us is capable of keeping the others alive, and without sleep she may not feel particularly inclined to even try.” Johanna snapped at the older victor.

“Shouldn’t one of us keep watch?” Beetee interrupts.

“Thanks for volunteering Volts.”

 

But Johanna stays up for long hours after she gave Beetee watch duty, Johanna hears Beetee’s low even breathing as he drops off, unable to sleep for thinking about Katniss. Where she might be, who she’s with. Whether her and the bread boy are still playing up for the cameras, or if they aren’t playing at all. Johanna shakes her head and blinks her eyes frowning into the darkness. That’s not why she’s awake at all, she needs to stay awake, Panem knows what would happen if Nuts and Volts to kept watch Johanna tells herself. If she left it to them she might not wake up at all.

 

Sometime in the night twelve rings sound, Johanna is on her feet, hands clenched around her axes and on guard when a streak of light cuts through the darkness and a single tree in the distance lights up, struck by the lightning bolt.

 

“Well that was a weird waste of showmanship.” Johanna comments to no one other than the Capitol’s cameras.

 

The storm rages on again as it did earlier in the day, only this time Johanna can hear Nuts counting in an off-putting singsong way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOOOOO it’s been forever. And I’m super sorry, no one to blame but my own lack of desire to write. I promise the next chapters will be up much sooner than this one has taken.
> 
> *Thunder rolled… it rolled a six.**   
> **Couldn’t resist the Terry Pratchett reference in a footnote.


	12. Chapter 12

Johanna ground her teeth as she looked behind her and saw that Nuts and Volts were once again stationary. This time resting against a tree, you would think knowing they were heading back to the Arena would have made them work on their conditioning, although Johanna admits she was travelling at a fast pace… and had been since she had roused the other two at sunup. But they all knew they needed to meet up with Katniss. That was the whole plan. The only part of the plan Johanna was concerned about at this point. Johanna had to make sure Haymitch and bread boy didn’t go back on their word and rescue Peeta instead of Katniss. And some part of Johanna, okay maybe quite a large part needed to see Katniss, her soulmate was back in the Arena and this time she could actually do something useful, could actually protect her. Only she was stuck Panem knows how far away from her with no real clue where she was. And yeah, Katniss had Finnick with her. And that damned bread boy who at least had proved he was good for _something_ in that sense. But that was another issue; were Katniss and pitta bread still playing up their tragic fabricated love story for the Capitol cameras-or had it actually become something real? Johanna had never felt like this before, her other relationships she hadn’t cared what the other person did, or who they did. But whether it was because they had been forced into playing these parts for the Capitol, or because Johanna cared more about Katniss than she had anyone before the thought of Katniss and Peeta together, whether for the cameras or real, made her stomach turn and renewed Johanna’s determination to find Katniss as soon as possible.

 

“Come _on_ you two.” Johanna called back annoyance clear in her tone. “You’re going to add hours to our walking if you keep stopping all the time.”

“It has been hours.” Wiress agreed, making sense for once.

“How do you know how long it will take? You don’t even know where it is we’re going.” Beetee argued from his position leaning against the tree trunk, the coil of wire he insisted on bringing with him set at his feet while he caught his breath. 

“If we walk backwards we could get some of the hours back.” Wiress added thoughtfully.

Beetee nodded at her but soon turned his attention back to Johanna, “We need some sort of sign, otherwise we’re just pointlessly walking around wasting energy.”

“How about we assume we’re going in the right direction otherwise we would have had a sign.” Johanna grits out frustrated.

“That’s confirmation bias. No evidence to the contrary isn’t proof we’re correct. We should go in another direction and see if we are presented with any reason to turn back to test that theory.”

Wiress looks from Johanna to Beetee “I don’t think the time would care how long we were there.” Johanna stares at Nuts for a moment before glancing over at Beetee who doesn’t seem to have any idea what she’s talking about either.

“Or we wait. Maybe Katniss’s group are looking for us.” Beetee continues after a pause.

“I can’t sit around and do nothing.” Johanna practically growls out.

Beetee looks at Johanna and something flickers on his face but it’s gone before Johanna can question Volts about what he knows, or thinks he knows. “Maybe we need to think about this some more-”

“Oh Joy. More talking.” Johanna snarks back before slamming her axe into a tree, the axe easily cuts into the bark and stays standing at an angle while Johanna shifts her weight from foot to foot.

“Whoa-” Beetee gets up hurriedly, “now Johanna-”

“Relax Volts. It was either that tree or your head.” Johanna shakes her hands out and closes her eyes trying to relax. “Okay so if we’re going in the wrong direction- _if._ How can we find out without going backwards or waiting around for someone or something to come kill us?”

Beetee looks thoughtful for a moment, “Well the simplest option would be to gain a better view of what is happening in the Arena. If we had access to the camera streams we could piece together what the other victors are doing, of course there would be a lot of dead footage to get through before we found anything useful. Plus we have the issue of having nothing to watch the footage on at present.”

“Are you- is your best plan to somehow make a screen from, from what, branches and mud?” Johanna asks disbelieving.

“No, no, of course not. I was only saying that the cameras would be the best option. But obviously we don’t have access to viewing them-”

“Obviously.” Johanna interrupted rolling her eyes.

“So, since we can’t do that.” Beetee continues, shooting a glare at Johanna. “The next best thing would be to improve what we _can_ see. To the best of our abilities.

“Riight…” Johanna draws out the word, frowning at Beetee while attempting to see where he is going with this.

“You’ve already shown you’re more than able to climb these trees Johanna.”

“I did grow up in Seven, be a pretty poor showing if I couldn’t climb a tree.”

“I can augment what you can see from near the top of one of these trees, I just need a suitably concaved structure and I can stretch-”

“You’re going to make a telescope.” Johanna cuts Beetee off, hoping she’s guessing right otherwise Volts will no doubt take it on himself to explain his plan in minute detail.

“Exactly.”

“One of these days you’re just going to have to do your thinking inside your head Volts and save the rest of us some time by just saying what you’re actually doing instead of all this-” Johanna gestures with her hands unable to find the words she wants to fully express her annoyance at Volts’ way of over analysing and over-talking everything.

“Crazy hand flaps?” Wiress adds helpfully staring at Johanna.

“Yeah, Nuts. Exactly.” Johanna sighs shaking her head. “Panem help me.”

 

Johanna had already climbed one of the nearby trees while waiting for Beetee to make his telescope in order to find the tallest tree in their immediate surroundings, so when Beetee finally passed his creation to Johanna she quickly scaled the chosen tree and once she had climbed as high as she could within its branches Johanna carefully balanced herself against the trunk of the tree and raised the telescope. Johanna had to hand it to Volts, she wasn’t sure exactly what he had done, Johanna had zoned out when he had started explaining his process, but whatever it was the result was amazing. Johanna could see that unlike the last section of the Arena Johanna had been in yesterday the Gamemakers had gone all in with the rainforest idea for the rest of the Arena that she could see. Large leafy trees were interspersed with thick foliage, everything looked vibrant and verdant, although aside from the stream they had found the day before Johanna couldn’t see any other water source which could prove problematic later the brunette thought to herself. Johanna focused on one of the trees and saw indistinct shapes jumping through the trees, one finally paused and Johanna recognised them as monkeys, or whatever crazy monkey hybrid muttation the Gamemakers had come up with.

 

Aside from the monkeys there didn’t seem to be any other living beings in their vicinity, Johanna scanned the area again, shifting in the tree to check in each direction. Johanna spotted something in the distance, after watching the shape for a while longer Johanna realised there was a lone figure walking in their direction. Johanna wasn’t entirely sure of how far away they were, she didn’t know exactly how well Volts’ device could magnify. Johanna watched the figure for a moment and tried to work out how long they would take to reach them if she and the victors from Three didn’t move. The figure advanced at a steady pace but while Johanna watched she was still no closer at being able to see more than an indistinct bipedal smudge walking towards them so Johanna descended the tree to let the others know. Once on the ground Johanna passed the telescope back to Volts who immediately checked his creation over before looking expectantly to Johanna.

 

“Apart from the barren area we passed through yesterday the rest of the Arena is much like we are in now, large trees, rainforest type foliage. I did see some furry creatures sitting in the trees but they were quite far away.” Johanna stopped and checked Wiress and Beetee’s expressions, trying to gauge what they thought of her news so far. “I did see someone walking this way, they were alone and moving at a steady pace but while I was watching them they didn’t change direction so if we don’t move away from this area it’s likely we’ll meet them.”

 

There was a moment of silence while Johanna’s information sunk into the victors from Three. Well, Johanna knew Beetee was thinking it over, no one could be sure what Nuts was thinking about.

 

“So.” Beetee said decisively, breaking the silence. “We either avoid them or go towards this person, hope they’re friendly and may know the locations of other people in the Arena.”

“And haven’t killed them.” Johanna added dryly.

“That would be preferential, yes.”

“And they don’t kill us.” Wiress joined in happily.

“Ah. Yes. That too.” Beetee shifted uncomfortably while Johanna smirked.

“She has a point Volts, anything else you can magic up to help out?”

“It’s science, not magic. And I assume you could handle one person?”

“This confirmation that you two are nothing but dead weight in here doesn’t fill me with confidence Volts.”

“It was my telescope that enabled us to even have this conversation.” Beetee replied irritably.

Johanna turned to Volts and raised her eyebrows at the victor from Three, but he didn’t say anything further so Johanna turned back and addressed what she supposed the Capitol commentators on the outside would be calling her ‘group’ equally. Although what Nuts was even taking in from this conversation Johanna had no idea. “Since the whole point of us scouting out our surroundings was to gather more information about the Arena we have to move towards this person.”

“Or stay here and wait for them to find us. Perhaps construct some sort of trap, or simply hide until we can see them clearer and if they’re one of the Careers steer clear.” Beetee added.

“That could take forever.” Johanna argued. “Besides, we’ll still have an advantage against them since we know they’re heading this way and they have no idea we’re here. And it’s unlikely it’s one of the Careers, they tend to hunt in packs.”

“It’s unlikely to be anyone from Katniss’s group too.” Beetee added

“That’s not the point.” Johanna said lowly, glaring at Beetee until he turned away and fiddled with his spool of cable. “So it’s settled.” Johanna said louder, looking between the two from Three. “Great.” Johanna muttered to herself, gathering her axes and testing the sharpness of the blade she had thrown into the tree before looking up at Nuts and Volts who hadn’t appeared to move. “Come on then.”

 

Johanna moved off abruptly, not particularly caring if the other two were following at this point or not. Not for the first time Johanna wondered why in the hell Katniss had wanted these two for allies. Volts was a pain in the ass, even if at times he was _maybe_ helpful. Those times were few and far between though, and he’d be useless in a fight. That was proved at the Cornucopia. Nuts was even worse, Johanna couldn’t think of any reason she would benefit their group yet still Katniss had wanted her. Johanna probably shouldn’t be surprised though she supposed, this adopting of useless people had already been shown during the last Games, when Katniss had kept bread boy alive and started this whole shitshow off.

 

Johanna wasn’t even sure herself at this point if she meant Katniss and Peeta’s supposed love affair or what Haymitch had said was happening out in the Districts. Both of them were obstacles to her and Katniss being together as far as Johanna could see. Peeta, he was obviously in the way, but if the Capitol had been able to forget about the victors from Twelve, if they’d passed into the background as past victors did then Johanna and Katniss could have been together, Johanna was sure of it. The Capitol didn’t have particularly long attention spans for anything, if she and Katniss had been mentors this year instead of back in the Arena there would have been countless chances for them to be together and no one would have known or cared. But Katniss had to save bread boy. Snow had to hold a grudge and now the Districts hung in the balance, according to Haymitch who Johanna still wasn’t completely sure she could trust to keep to their deal in saving Katniss over Peeta when the time came. Johanna heard the annoyingly loud footsteps of Nuts and Volts following behind and her frown deepened. How much did Beetee know anyway, Johanna supposed Haymitch had probably told him at least as much as he had told Johanna. But did he know about anything else, or was he just needling her with his comments about Katniss’s group? He could have been making an innocent observation Johanna supposes, it _was_ unlikely that the person walking towards them was someone from Katniss’s group. It was even less likely the person was Katniss no matter how much Johanna wanted it to be so.  

 

Johanna wasn’t sure exactly how long they had been walking, she had long tuned out Nuts and Volts’ grumblings and hadn’t spoken to Beetee apart from when he handed over the homemade telescope when she would check they were still on course to meet whoever it was they were going to meet and making sure the Careers weren’t anywhere nearby. Johanna supposed Beetee may have redeemed himself slightly on that front. They were getting closer to the figure, Johanna had once again borrowed Beetee’s device to check their course and since they were getting closer to the figure Johanna was hoping to find out exactly who they were heading towards before actually having to meet them. Johanna watched for a few moments, scanning the surroundings carefully, but the figure was lost amongst the trees. There wasn’t much ground left between them and the tall trees that had enabled Johanna to spot the person were now working against them and providing them with cover.

 

Johanna wasn’t overly concerned, a solitary victor at this point in the Games wouldn’t be much of a threat, the only people who would be walking around alone would be the people no one else wanted as an ally. The Cornocopia tended to pick off most of the weaker tributes, but everyone in this years Games was a proven survivor, a victor of their own Games.

 

Finally, Johanna spotted them with her own eyes. Weirdly they didn’t seem concerned to be faced with a group of three other victors. Sure, Nuts and Volts weren’t that intimidating but they did have a numbers advantage, and Johanna wasn’t to be counted out. Johanna frowned at the thought that they didn’t see her as a threat. Of course, like her they probably couldn’t make out who they were approaching yet. The identical wetsuits the victors had all been put in didn’t exactly help with identifying people at a distance. Johanna squinted to try and make out the person walking towards them better, they seemed taller than Johanna, which Johanna would admit didn’t actually narrow the list down all that much. Short hair and what Johanna had first taken to be a stick that the person was using to aid their walking looked more refined, definitely Capitol made, and… with an axe head.

 

“I don’t believe it.” Johanna muttered to herself.

Beetee was in the process of cleaning his glasses and when he put them back on he frowned, “Is that…”

“Looks like it. Unfortunately.” Johanna added with a smirk, striding forward to meet the newcomer.

“Hey Jo.” Blight grinned widely at his fellow victor from Seven, Johanna’s response was to punch him on the arm causing Blight to wince exaggeratedly. “Some welcome.” Blight grumbled rubbing the spot where Johanna had hit him, although the smile on his face had yet to waver.

“How’ve you been?” Johanna asked rolling her eyes as Blight kept up the pretence of being upset at her greeting.

“Not too much trouble. I mostly stayed out of the way during the Cornucopia mayhem, grabbed this axe and left, you guys are the first victors I’ve met up close.”

“Meaning you don’t have any idea of where anyone else is in the Arena?” Beetee asked disappointedly.

“Well having Blight here isn’t a total loss.” Johanna interrupted.

“Thank you, Jo.”

“We only have to outrun him instead of outrunning the careers now, and I know for a fact he’s been eating more of the Capitol’s food than he has keeping up with his running training.”

Blight sighed and glared at Johanna “As always, you know just what to say.”

“It is lucky you found us first out of the rest of the victors though.” Beetee said nodding at Blight. “I’m glad you are okay.”

“Well I had a bit of help with that.” Blight admits, pulling a small parcel from his suit. “I got a note with this spire, saying ‘left isn’t always right, continue down’ -I suppose I should mention I was at a rather steep slope wondering which direction to go at the time, and after this note arrived during the night I headed downwards, kept on a straight path and ended up meeting up with you all.”

Johanna takes the note from Blight’s outstretched hand. “What’s this ‘then to sparks at eastern point’ part you neglected to mention?”

“Well I figured-”

“It must mean Katniss.” Wiress interrupted picking the spire up from Blight’s hand and moving over to a nearby tree to put it to use.

 

Johanna scans over the note again, partially to try and determine if it definitely meant they now had a position for Katniss but since there wasn’t any more information on the note it was also to give Johanna something to do, something to occupy her hands and look at while the news sank in. This was the first time since she lost sight at Katniss during the bloodbath at the start of the Games that she had any idea of where the other victor was, and the fact that they were separated during yet another fight for their lives hit Johanna again. Even though she had been listening out for canon blasts, and Katniss hadn’t been shown projected onto the sky during last night’s dead list Johanna couldn’t really believe Katniss was safe until she saw her with her own eyes.

 

“It would make sense.” Beetee agreed bringing Johanna from out of her own tangled thoughts.

“Plus, Haymitch told me about the, ah, allies thing. So it makes sense he’d want to help us all meet up to be a stronger group.” Blight added.

“I can’t believe Haymitch sent _you_ something.” Johanna said annoyed.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Blight asks.

“I’m the one carrying this dead weight.” Johanna thumbs behind her at the two victors from Three.

“Well.” Beetee says awkwardly. “That aside at least we have a destination now to meet up with the others.”

“And more muscle.” Blight added winking at Johanna who rolled her eyes.”

“Do you have anything else useful to add to the group?” Johanna asked.

“You mean other than my devilish good looks and axe?”

“Yeah, we already had those covered.” Johanna teased. “I was thinking more threats to look out for in the Arena. We hit some weird weather patterns, snow that burnt when it touched but other than that we’ve not seen anything from the Gamemakers.”

“Well I would recommend not going about 12 miles thataway.” Blight gestured off into the distance “I was stuck in some frog territory there.”

“Frogs, Blight? Really?”

“Hey, they were some _big_ frogs Jo. And you try staying calm when there’s things leaping for your face!”

“If we are both reading the distance travelled correctly we passed through there and it was fine.” Beetee interrupted.

“Are you sure it was that section?” Johanna asked.

“It would make sense that the threats aren’t constant in their regions.” Beetee comments thoughtfully. “There’s no way to amp up the tension for the Capitol viewers if the victors everywhere are constantly threatened.” 

“True.” Johanna said before getting up. “Right. We have a destination, we have a way to get water without hoping we stumble upon another stream. I suggest we all get ready for another long hike eastwards, we have no idea how far away we are from Katniss.”

Beetee sighed and after Blight helped him to his feet he went off to join Wiress taking advantage of the spire.

“And bathroom breaks before we leave!” Johanna called out to the victors from Three. Turning around to see Blight grinning at her. “What?”

“Just you. Looking after people. It’s cute, you’re like their mom.”

“Uh. _No_.” Johanna replied empathetically. “I just know how long their bathroom stops are and want to at least _try_ and get to Katniss before nightfall.”

“Whatever you say JoJo.” Blight grinned at the younger victor. “I wouldn’t have believed you could care about anyone before all this, then I saw you with Katniss, and now that’s passed onto the victors from Three…”

“Purely out of necessity I assure you.” Johanna replied through gritted teeth. “And as for Katniss…”

“Yeah?”

“Hell, I don’t even know.” Johanna sighed and moved further away from

“So I shouldn’t ask you excited questions about your plans for after this whole thing?” Blight

Johanna raised her eyebrow at Blight. “Quite presumptuous of you to even assume there will be an after the Games for us.”

“Not really.” Blight replied casually. “I have faith in you. Both of you. And hey, Haymitch told me to meet up with you both, and very vague hints of a plan he’s hatching. But I’d have come to find you anyway you know? I know you feel like no one’s on your side Jo, but you’ve always got me. Whatever you need I’m here, you just have to ask.”

“I’m not so great at the asking part.” Johanna responds sullenly.

“Well, we’re stuck together until we either die or get out of here. So you’ve got time to work on that.”

“You’re not still morbid, are you?” Johanna asks Blight, scanning the older victor up and down as though Johanna could tell by looking if Blight had given up hope of making it out of the Arena again.

“I don’t know what you mean, I thought you’d appreciate some gallows humour.” Blight replies playfully, grinning at Johanna.

“That’s good to hear. Well, the joke was terrible, but you know what I mean.”

“I do. And remember, I’m here for you, whether you decide you need me or not. I’ve found you in the Arena you’re stuck with me now.”

“Okay, enough of that,” Johanna says rolling her eyes at Blight before looking over towards the victors from Three and raising her voice so they can hear. “Come on, let’s make a move, we can’t hang around here all day.”

“Do I have time for a toilet break?”

Johanna turned to glare at Blight. “Don’t be a dick.”

“I am kinda serious though Jo. Now you’ve brought it up.”

Johanna sighs and rolls her eyes moving away from Blight to wrangle Nuts and Volts. “Panem knows how Katniss is coping without us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter still took longer than I'd have liked. Purely because I am the Queen of procrastination so I'm sorry again. On the plus side this is probably the first (& hopefully will remain only) fic I've written which references people going to the toilet so that's a win right there.  
> Sometimes I spend ages thinking 'well this can't happen it's too big of a coincidence' so I spend ages thinking of how to explain it then I realise that's even more of a coincidence and I should have left it alone. But I never edit myself so...enjoy that.  
> Also next chapter things will actually happen.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for violence ahead

Johanna now had a target to aim towards, a destination she knew she would find Katniss in. Johanna had expected to feel some of the tension she had felt as soon as she was separated from Katniss ease, but if anything it was increasing. Johanna was eager to meet up with Katniss, she didn’t trust anyone else to protect her as well as she could, and Johanna had to be there to make sure Peeta and Haymitch held up their end of the deal and got Katniss out- However _that_ was happening. Johanna thought annoyed and turned to glare at Volts behind her, sure that the older victor knew something more than he was sharing with her on that matter. But the victor from Three only stumbled slightly when he saw Johanna’s gaze and moved so Blight was in between Johanna and himself. Figures Johanna thought annoyed, he doesn’t even know what I’m thinking and he’s still avoiding the subject. Johanna turned back to the Arena in front of her and couldn’t stop her thoughts returning to Katniss, Johanna had been so focused on finding the other victor, of surviving the Arena so she could protect Katniss now she had Blight to hep her wrangle Nuts and Volts and knew where to find Katniss Johanna couldn’t stop the worry about what she would find there. The last time she had seen Katniss had been after Caesar’s show, when Peeta had proposed and told all of Panem that Katniss was pregnant with his child. Johanna had met Katniss afterwards- well, crashed into her would probably be a more apt description. But Johanna had practically run away from the victor from Twelve, unable to hear anything more about her and her new _fiancée_ , unwilling to hear anything that might confirm what Peeta had said on stage. Johanna felt her fists clench at the memory and when Volts interrupted her thoughts -Johanna wasn’t even sure of what the victor from Three had said, only that she was focused on what could be happening with Katniss and Peeta elsewhere in the Arena. Considering how they had survived their last Games, and Haymitch’s clear approval of their ‘tragic lovers’ spiel, if she hadn’t snapped at Volts she would probably have done something else equally stupid that would piss off her companions.

 

“If you don’t shut up the next time we come across another victor we’ll let them take you just to give the rest of us some peace.”

Johanna stared at Beetee’s shocked face, even Nuts looked taken aback. Johanna glanced at Blight who was looking at her with a concerned expression and that was Johanna’s last straw, she turned and walked faster than she had been, wanting to put some distance between her and the group of idiots she was travelling with.

Blight moved over to Johanna, even in the Arena it’s impossible to be alone. Johanna thought, especially in the Arena Johanna added, looking around at the likely numerous cameras fixated on their activities. “She’ll be fine Jo.” Blight said softly as he approached Johanna.

“What?” Johanna snaps.

“Katniss. She’s a fighter and she has Finnick and Peeta with her, they’ll keep her safe.”

“Oh, I bet they will.” Johanna said darkly.

“What? Jo… if this is… you know. I can’t even finish that sentence. Hell, I have no real clue what this is, I didn’t know anything about it until I walked in on you. Well, you two walked in on me if we’re being accurate. But you can’t hide the truth forever. Neither of you can.”

“She seems to be doing okay.” Johanna interrupted bitterly.

“Once I realised there was something to look for I couldn’t not see it, how she looks at you, how you seek her out. You’re both being torn in different ways but there’s no doubt in my mind that when you’re together you make each other whole. And nothing can come between that.”

Johanna looked up at Blight’s concerned eyes but couldn’t hold his gaze, letting out a sigh as she looked down at her feet. “I Hope you’re right. I really do.” Johanna replied quietly.

“Trust me, I’m the official relationship council of Seven.” Blight proudly declared.

Johanna raised an eyebrow at that, “So I suppose that debacle with Root has you to blame?”

“Hey! My advice was good. It’s not my fault that that raccoon is a homicidal maniac.”

“Right. Let’s blame the raccoon.” Johanna said disbelievingly before looking back to where Nuts and Volts were waiting. “’Spose we should get back to the others.” Johanna sighed out.

“Yeah, I’m sure Beetee would appreciate an apology.”

“I’m not sure I’d go that far.”

The two victors from Seven walked back to meet the others from Three in companionable silence, every now and again Blight would walk too close to Johanna and would accidentally on purpose bump into her, after each knock Johanna would turn to scowl at the older victor and would be met with Blight making a weird face or just grinning at Johanna. Johanna let out a loud sigh and raised her eyes to the sky, but she didn’t move any further away from Blight. Content to let him show his affection and support for her in a way that she didn’t find too uncomfortable with, and knew that he would take her silence as admittance of the same.

“Hey Volts, about before… forget what I said. Blight will be the cannon fodder if we meet any other victors.”

“Hey!” Blight interrupted, elbowing Johanna in the side.

Johanna rolled her eyes, “I just mean. It’s not your fault I’m …difficult to be around.”

“That’s one word for it.” Blight added in an undertone that Johanna could still easily hear, Johanna glared at Blight who raised his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, what are you going to do? You’ve already earmarked me as the next to go!”

* * *

 

The group were getting on fine after Johanna’s outburst earlier. Johanna wouldn’t go so far as to say they would be each other’s first choice in socialising with outside of the Games though, Beetee knew he needed the two from Seven to help him make it to Katniss, and Blight wasn’t going to split up from Johanna, it was clear where his loyalties lay. As for Nuts, who knows what Nuts thought about anything.  So when Beetee stopped the group and excitedly demanded they change course Johanna knew that if she and Blight stuck to the original plan Volts would have no choice but to follow them. But no one really knew what they should be doing, Blight joining them brought the only communication they had had from outside the Arena, and Haymitch’s message to Blight wasn’t exactly comprehensive.

 

“Why should we go towards this?” Johanna asks stopping sharply.

“Look at how the forcefield above us is breaking apart,”

Johanna glanced up at the sky that seemed to have caused all of Beetee’s excitement and saw vague shifts in what could have been cloud cover, or it might have been what Beetee was talking about. If Johanna had any idea what Volts was talking about.

“How do you even know there’s a forcefield in the sky?” Blight asked staring upwards.

“Of _course_ there is.” Beetee scoffed, “there has to be. And something is starting to damage it, there will likely be an exposed electrical current-”

“Yes, you’ve said. So why would we go _anywhere_ near that?” Johanna continues getting more exasperated with Beetee.

“This is all part of what we _need_ to do Johanna!”

“Or the Gamemakers have a new hazard for us.” Blight interrupts.

“Yes. Exactly. _Thank_ you.” Johanna almost shouts, glaring at Beetee who’s shifting his spool of wire from shoulder to shoulder and looks more excited about this than Johanna’s ever seen him.

“We’re headed towards Katniss-”

“So why should I let you take us away from that destination?” Johanna all but growls at Beetee.

“First of all, you don’t ‘let’ me do anything-”

“The fact that you’re still alive means I’m letting you live.” Johanna clenches her fists and takes a heavy step towards Beetee before she feels Blight’s hand rest on her shoulder, not restraining her, just grounding Johanna.

Johanna takes a breath and glared at the victor from Three who shifted nervously under her gaze. “I’m assuming Haymitch only spoke to you about the bare minimum of the plan.”

“What we did or didn’t talk about isn’t your concern.” Johanna growls out.

“You’re not the kind of person to entrust complicated details to-”

“Hey now.” Blight interrupts his grip on Johanna’s shoulder increasing as he moves forward, seemingly without realising.

“I just meant that she’s preoccupied with Katniss, with her side of everything. And why shouldn’t you be!” Beetee said a little frantically his eyes moving between the victors from Seven. “But trust me Johanna, if what I think is occurring is happening, then this will help Katniss.”

“You can’t know what we’re heading towards.” Blight said angrily, “That genius IQ of yours doesn’t enable you to predict the future-”

Johanna stopped listening to them when Nuts chimed in, she didn’t want to deviate from their route towards Katniss, but if this would help like Volts said could she let that chance pass itself by? It would be something to show Katniss too, a small part of her whispered, it would show her that she can’t survive with the bread boy. That she needs Johanna just as much as Johanna needs Katniss. “Fine Volts.” Johanna said halting the arguments from the other three, “whatever it is you’re planning better work.”

 

The group walked towards where Beetee had claimed the disruption in the forcefield above them was coming from, Johanna couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, she wasn’t even sure she could see the flickering that had started this whole thing.

 

“Just how long are we expected to travel away from our goal on this wild goose chase?” Blight grumbled.

“It shouldn’t be much further now.” Beetee replied.

“The rest of us can’t even see what it is has got you so excited, are you sure you’re not just seeing things?”

Johanna had been following Beetee with a growing sense of unease, Johanna kept looking around them but couldn’t see anyone or anything to be worried about, but still the prickling feeling on the back of her neck made her skin crawl. Johanna shushed Blight and Beetee, just as Beetee found whatever it was he had been looking for.

“There!” Beetee exclaimed as he rushed over to some sort of metal contraption, Johanna didn’t know what it was but it didn’t have the sleek overly styled look of something from the Gamemakers.  

“Wait!” Johanna called out but before Beetee could do anything, before he even reached what had made him so excited a figure drops from the canopy, a rush of golden hair and the grey suits all the victors were wearing was all Johanna saw until a slash of metal and Beetee’s yell brings Johanna rushing forward.

 

In the few seconds it takes Johanna to close in on the other two victors Johanna is readying her axe, raising it to throw and she notices the victor who literally got the drop on them was Liobam. The victor from Ten is holding a cruel looking knife in his hand but despite Beetee’s yell the blade doesn’t seem to have injured him, Liobam had brought the knife down on Beetee’s shoulder and Johanna realises that that damn spool of wire Beetee had insisted on carrying around actually seems to have come in handy, the thin strands somehow held up against the blade of the knife which dragged harmlessly down Beetee’s shoulder. Although the knife didn’t injure Beetee the victor from Three is struggling to get away from the larger, more physically strong victor. Beetee’s movements make Johanna reconsider throwing her axe and shifts her hold on the already raised axe and keeps running towards Liobam. Beetee tried to use his homemade telescope as a weapon but Liobam easily pulled it away and tossed it aside, the victor from Ten’s eyes were now on the quickly advancing Johanna and Blight behind her, Liobam pushes Beetee aside, the sudden movement making Beetee stumble and fall to the ground. Liobam pays him no attention and readies himself to meet Johanna, turning his knife to the side.

As soon as Liobam pushed Beetee aside Johanna saw her opportunity and with a flick of her wrist sent the first of her axes flying straight towards Liobam’s head. The older victor’s eyes widened in the split second he saw the axe spinning towards him and tried to dodge, only partially succeeding, the axe catching Liobam with a glancing blow to the side of his head. The victor from Ten roars as blood steadily pours from the head wound quickly covering the right side of his neck and shoulder in blood. Johanna keeps moving towards the victor, raising her second axe she pushed into Liobam slashing at his side as she felt his knife come down towards her, missing her by the slightest amount as Johanna kept her momentum and rolled away from Liobam and was back on her feet once again with two axes. Liobam was now between Johanna and Blight which should have made it easier to take him down but Johanna knows the victor from Ten isn’t the kind to hunt alone, and he definitely isn’t responsible for the electronic device that had caught Beetee’s attention. At least one other person was nearby and Nuts and Volts avoiding this fight might have made themselves easy prey for another victor.

 

“Blight!” Johanna calls as she sees Wiress and Beetee dragging each other away from the imminent fight. Blight looks from Johanna to the fleeing victors from Three but moves closer to Johanna and Liobam. “Blight, watch over them.”

Blight holds Johanna’s gaze for a moment then nods. “On it.” And turns to find the victors from Three before someone else can.

“Just us two now Mason? I knew you liked me.” Liobam grinned, some of his usual swagger returning now he saw himself as being on a more even playing field.

“Not sure it is just the two of us. It’s pretty obvious you didn’t do this Liobam, who’ve you joined up with?” Johanna asked, indicating the electronic device at the side of them while keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the blonde victor.

“What makes you think I couldn’t do it?” The victor from Ten snarls back, circling round, moving closer to Johanna.

Johanna is aware Liobam is trying to herd her, to move her closer to the device, Johanna holds her ground and shifts her grip on her axes. “I know it’s not Nan, she died the first day. So much for District solidarity huh?”

Liobam’s eyes narrow and he lunges at Johanna who easily sidesteps the clumsy move and twists around, now further away from whatever the electronic device is.

“I’m guessing it was the careers? Last I saw Brutus was after her, you’ve not aligned yourself with the careers have you Leo?”

“I hate that nickname.” Liobam growls out before he rushes Johanna. The brunette brings up her axes, one blocking the long knife slashing at her middle but before she hit Liobam with the other the blonde catches Johanna with a punch square on the jaw.

“Might have known you couldn’t be trusted.” Johanna said twisting out of the taller victor’s reach.

 

“It’s not personal Johanna, it’s just the Game.”

Johanna spits blood out, “Pretty sure this is the very definition of personal Leo.”

Liobam growls “Don’t call me that!” and lunges at Johanna who was ready for the move and sidesteps the larger victor, swinging an axe into his ribs as he passes, Liobam stumbles and swings around quickly, glaring at Johanna.

 

Johanna puts a few steps between the two of them which has Liobam grinning even as he holds a hand to the side Johanna cut with her axe. Johanna grimaces back at Liobam and takes another half step backwards and bringing one of her axes forward straight at Liobam. The victor from Ten surprises Johanna and doesn’t try and dodge or block the axe, instead heading straight for Johanna. The axe strikes the blonde victor but not where Johanna had aimed for, instead of killing Liobam the axe hits him in the chest causing Liobam to stumble slightly but the adrenaline rushing through his veins has him pulling the axe from his flesh and leaving it where it falls. A deep cut joins the victor from Ten’s other injuries but he appears not to notice, racing towards Johanna. Even though Johanna had readied herself for the impact Liobam still knocks the wind from her, the younger victor is reeling from being hit and frantically tries to block the wild slashes from Liobam’s knife. Johanna brings her remaining axe up but Liobam is too close and too strong for her to get a good hit in, the victor from Seven tries to push against Liobam, striking him in the side where her axe had previously found it’s mark but Liobam wraps a large hand around Johanna’s neck and the brunette can feel the edge of the knife’s blade pressing into her stomach and kicks out catching Liobam in surprise his hand loosens around her throat and Johanna drops to the ground struggling to catch her breath. A swift kick from Liobam has Johanna reeling, her vision blurring. Johanna rolls away on instinct, narrowly missing the knife coming down and digging into the ground where she was laying a few moments ago.

 

Liobam pulls his knife from where it had embedded in the earth and prowls towards Johanna who is on the ground, one axe behind her the other where Liobam left it a few yards away. Johanna looks up and sees Liobam advancing on her, knife raised and lips turned up in a snarl. Johanna reaches behind her for her axe, fingers fumbling for the handle when Liobam stops suddenly. Surprise washing over his features. Then Johanna takes in the figure standing just behind Liobam, attached to the now kneeling Liobam by an axe. Blight had come in from behind, unnoticed by either of the two victors while they were focused on each other.

 

“I had him you know.” Johanna said unimpressed from where she was still crouched on the ground, trying to sound unimpressed amidst attempting to catch her breath.

“A thank you would be nice.” Blight says casually pulling his axe from Liobam’s neck.

“Thank you.” Beetee calls out from behind Blight, he and Wiress walking out from the same set of trees Blight had emerged from.

“Yeah, I’m sure running after Nuts and Volts was very taxing for you.” Johanna grumbles, wincing as she rises. Blight moves over to Johanna and helps her up despite the younger victor’s protests that she was fine.

“I’m sorry I left.” Beetee says to Johanna once the brunette is standing and testing out the range of motion in her limbs. “I didn’t think I would be of any use considering how easy Liobam used me as a shield from your axe.”

“Yeah, luckily for us he didn’t realise you were blocking my shot.” Johanna said wincing as she rotated the wrist that took a lot of the weight when Liobam had knocked her to the ground.

“Even so I-”

“Volts, don’t worry about it. I never had ideas of us all squaring up to take down the other victors together. Still, you should have something more than that piece of wiring you’re insisting on carrying around.” Johanna moves over to Liobam lying face down in the grass, his golden curls covering the fatal wound to his neck. “Pointless leaving a weapon around for one of our enemies to get.”

Johanna picks up the knife Liobam used against her and offers it to Beetee who eyes it warily before taking it. “I suppose this was just a trap after all.” Beetee looks over at the electronic device dejectedly.

“What kind though? Just to lure us here? Because me and Jo wouldn’t have noticed it if it wasn’t for you.” Blight adds moving closer to the device.

“Blight-” Beetee starts before stopping abruptly.

Blight falls to his knees at first Johanna thinks the older victor tripped or found something of interest but then she notices the axe falling from his hand as Blight leans forwards, fingers gripping into the dirt as his breath comes out in a harsh gasp. Johanna starts to move over to Blight before realising how stupid it would be to walk straight into a trap she knows exists and shifts from one foot to the other watching as Blight shakes. Beetee quickly moves towards Blight, checking the ground before he places his feet for something Johanna can’t see. When he reaches Blight he circles around the other victor, still staring at the ground before using the knife taken from Liobam to unearth a bundle of wires that connects to the device that had Blight trapped.

 

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Blight gets out through gritted teeth, his body convulsing with the electricity.

“I think I can cut the power.” Beetee says not looking up from what he’s already started to do with the electronics.

“See? No need for you to look so concerned Jo.” Blight grins at Johanna shakily.

“This isn’t concerned, this is furious for you being so idiotic.” Johanna snaps back, her eyes darting between Blight and Beetee huddled over the device. Wiress has moved over to her fellow victor from Three, seemingly unconcerned about being caught in the same trap that had Blight and she was looking down interestedly at the mess of exposed wires.

“I told Liobam I didn’t think he’d fare well against the lot of you, but since he took the time to injure you, and the other members of your little party are… tied up I think the odds are much more in my favour.” Johanna quickly turned and saw a dark-haired burly looking victor with a calculating look emerging from the trees behind them, the spear in his hand raising as though ready to throw at Johanna.

“Telkes.” Beetee says resignedly from where he is crouched close to Blight. “Of course. The power District.”

“You’re not the only one who knows how to use electricity Beetee.” Telkes replies, not taking his eyes from Johanna. “Incidentally be careful not to trip the kill switch on that thing.”

“Are we going to stand here chatting all day?” Johanna asks, drawing Telkes’ fully onto her, but when the stocky victor sizes her up Johanna starts to rethink that strategy.

Wiress grabs the spool of wire from Beetee and stands over the two prone victors, holding the wire like it will protect them from Telkes. But the victor from Five doesn’t seem to have any intention of moving over to the other three victors, he’s fully focused on Johanna. Before Johanna can think about throwing an axe the spear is heading straight for her, Johanna jumps away bringing her axes up to block the blow and moves backwards as Telkes advances again. The dark haired victor thrusts with the spear, each time driving Johanna backwards but he seems to grow frustrated at his lack of contact and rushes Johanna, following through with the attack from the spear and brings up his free hand to land a swift punch that has Johanna’s head ringing.

 

Telkes isn’t as adept with the spear as he would like to think, Johanna can easily parry his lunges, the close quarters working in her favour as Telkes struggles to manoeuvre the large weapon in any effective way against her. Johanna is aware that Telkes is moving her closer to Blight and the others, closer to his trap but she can’t seem to change the direction, every push she makes against Telkes is easily rebuffed or ignored by the larger victor. They clash together again and Telkes manages to trip Johanna, more with luck than any real intent, with the butt of the spear and the brunette goes down, Johanna slashes at Telkes’ legs causing the larger victor to jump awkwardly to avoid the blow and he swings the spear aiming to drive it into Johanna but Johanna grabs it and pulls against it using it to help her to her feet even as Telkes is pulled to the ground. The spear is pulled backwards and before Johanna can let go, or find better footing Johanna is pulled back to the ground. Telkes is still clinging to the spear with one hand which gives Johanna an advantage against the burly victor. Johanna lands short stinging blows with her axes, one after the other cutting into Telkes’ arms and legs. Telkes yells out and works on pinning Johanna who moves from his grasp and seeing an opening brings her axe down hard on Telkes hand holding him above the victor from Seven. The scream from Telkes cuts through the mutterings from Nuts and Volts, drowning out the pants and muffled groans from Johanna as the axe cuts through the hand. Telkes jumps up, his arm brought up to his chest staining the grey wetsuit in fresh blood but his hand remains on the ground beside Johanna. Telkes staggers back a few paces in shock, staring at his ruined arm, the spear trailing uselessly along the ground beside him still gripped in his other hand.

 

“Nearly got it!” Beetee says, bringing Johanna and Telkes’ attention back to the other victors and Johanna feels relief rushing through her.

 

The sound brings Telkes back to where he is, he spares a last look at his arm and runs back towards Blight and the others. Johanna tries to get up and follows Telkes, struggling to rise for a few seconds before managing and limping after Telkes, not thinking about the trap a few feet away that has Blight ensnared and Beetee and Wiress preoccupied in helping him as Telkes raises his spear. Johanna glances from Telkes to Blight whose eyes are locked on Johanna, Wiress is standing there seemingly frozen, Beetee turns around his eyes wide and he raises the knife he had been using, his hand shaking as Telkes closes in on them. A yell. And Telkes drives the spear home. Johanna can only see red. The red trail of blood from Telkes’ arm following his path to the others, red staining her own hands and suit. Red flowing from Blight’s body as he kneels there, eyes unseeing the spear anchoring him to the ground.

 

Johanna doesn’t know how she makes it over to the others, Telkes is scrambling backwards, pulling the spear from Blight’s body but Johanna barely notices that over the red. Johanna feels pressure against her axes, knows the blow struck home. Telkes is lying in the dirt, staining the ground an even darker red.

 

“Johanna I-”

“Save it.” Johanna cuts Beetee off harshly.

 

The two victors from Three move closer to Johanna but don’t say anything. Johanna closes her eyes and for a second she can almost trick herself into thinking she’s not in the Arena and the victors didn’t get reaped for another Games.

 

“What do we do now?” Beetee asks quietly, breaking the silence and Johanna is back in the Arena, right where the Capitol promised she’d never have to be again. Her oldest friend lying motionless on the ground behind her.

“What do you mean? We’re sticking with the plan. Come on, Katniss is that way.” Johanna responds flatly before moving off and the victors from Three scramble to keep up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was always going to happen but I'm kind of sad it did. I liked Blight, he was always helpful with the words. 
> 
> I suppose once a month is better than my previous record. Barely. There may be mistakes as I was stuck on certain parts and don't write chapters in order so the last things written won't have been checked over... If you spot anything let me know! I hope you liked it.


	14. Chapter 14

Johanna ran, barely able to see in front of her. Relying on her shouts of encouragement -or to be more truthful, warnings and mild threats, to keep Wiress and Beetee on the right path. Johanna ran blindly through the jungle, the red rain beating down on the three of them. The force of it hitting the ground and their bodies and Johanna’s shouts were the only sounds to be heard as they fled through the Arena. The rain pooled in her mouth every time Johanna yelled, thick hot blood ran down her throat choking her. First she had to watch one of the few people she let herself care about die, and couldn’t do anything but leave his body, and now it seems the very Arena is forcing her to think about Blight’s lifeless body. Fixed to the dirt by the spear that ended his life, lying there, blood staining the grass below him. Johanna blames the Gamemaker’s blood rain for why she scrubs at her eyes. Finally they ran past some sort of invisible barrier into an area that was free from the rain. Johanna let herself rest and waited for Beetee and Wiress to catch up, the two victors from Three emerged from the red rain gasping for breath and streaked in blood.

 

“The Gamemakers aren’t subtle.” Johanna remarked staring at the victors from Three and looking down at her own bloodied skin.

“It’s odd the rain is kept separate from the rest of the Arena.” Beetee replied thoughtfully, staring at the flood of red rain still pounding on the ground only a few feet away from them while they were safe.

“Don’t question that we’re out of it.” Johanna said with a shudder, spitting out the remains of the blood from her mouth.

“We should head to the beach so we can wash this off.” Johanna stared at Beetee, clearly unimpressed at his comment, and the victor from Three hurriedly continued, “Just a short detour, then we’ll be straight on the path Haymitch suggested.”

 

Johanna let out a long-suffering sigh but changed their course of direction slightly, headed now towards where the beach and the centre of the Arena would be. It didn’t take too long for the sounds of the waves lapping against the beach to break the silence of the Arena and as they got closer to the sound of the water another unexpected sound was carried down to Johanna and the victors from Three, the faint sound of voices. Johanna picked up the pace almost unconsciously and soon Johanna had broken through the trees and could see the beach, and to the side a group of victors sat and Johanna’s heart sped in her chest.

 

“Johanna!”

“Finnick!” Johanna shouts back, too elated at having found Katniss and the others to mind that it was Odair who seemed the happiest to see her.

Johanna looks around for Mags once she and the two victors from Three join up with the others looking to Finnick questioningly, but he shakes his head. “She sacrificed herself for us.”

“We wouldn’t have made it without her.” Peeta speaks up. Johanna looks over at Katniss who is resolutely avoiding eye contact.

“Well, I got them out.” Johanna says unemotionally, indicating Wiress and Beetee, once they reached the other group of victors and Katniss still hadn’t moved from her seat on the floor. “We were all the way deep in the jungle, I thought it was going to be safe. That’s when the rain started. I thought it was water, turned out to be blood. Hot, thick, blood coming down choking us. We were stumbling around, gagging on it blind.”

“After everything with Blight, it felt like a hazard personally created for us.” Beetee added as he tries to clean the blood from his glasses.

“What about Blight?” Finnick asked looking between Beetee and Johanna.

Johanna glared at Beetee before turning back to the other victors. “It was a trap. Telkes and Liobam were working together.” Johanna breaks the eye contact she had been holding with Katniss and pauses. Her head tips backwards and the sole surviving victor from Seven breathes deeply, trying to quash down the memory of Blight, covered in blood and lying motionless. Johanna has enough memories of dead bodies, and they’re not out of the Arena yet. Johanna looks up and Katniss’s eyes meet hers but the older victor can’t decipher exactly what is in Katniss’s gaze. “He wasn’t much but he was from home.”

“Tick tock tick tock.” Johanna’s attention is drawn away from Katniss to Nuts’ mutterings as the victor from Three wanders about the beach.

“What’s wrong with her?” Katniss asks nodding over at Wiress.

“She’s in shock. Dehydration isn’t helping, do you have any fresh water?” Beetee replies before Johanna can say anything.

“We can get some.” Katniss says standing up and moving to the trees.

“Stop it.” Johanna snaps at Nuts, frustrated at the victors from Three interrupting her and Katniss just as Johanna was about to try and sort out what’s happening between them. What’s happened since they were separated at the start of the Games. Johanna feels like screaming, all the memories of Blight are still fresh in her mind and Katniss is keeping her distance and looking at her as though she doesn’t want to touch her and Johanna only brought Nuts and Volts for _her_. If she and Blight hadn’t had to worry about keeping them alive Blight would still be here. And meanwhile Nuts just keeps. On. Talking.

“Tick tock tick tock.” Wiress grabs Johanna’s hand. “Tick tock.”

“Listen. Just _stop_ it.” Johanna tries to dislodge Wiress’s grip, turning around and Wiress trips and falls to the ground, pulling Johanna with her.

“Hey, get off her.” Johanna looks up and for a second can’t tell who Katniss is talking to. Then Johanna realises it’s her and narrows her eyes. “Hey!” Katniss shouts as she strides over to Johanna and starts trying to pull her away from Wiress. Johanna uses the taller victor’s strength against her and Katniss ends up on the floor with Johanna.

“What are you doing?” Johanna shouts, grabbing at Katniss’s hands trying to stop the younger victor from hitting her. Johanna looks into Katniss’s eyes, trying to see the Katniss she knew from Twelve, from her time in the Capitol.

 “What are you doing.” Johanna says again quieter, her words almost lost amongst the sounds of Katniss’s fists hitting Johanna and Katniss’s panting breath.

“You think you can just turn up and I forget everything that’s happened? What we’ve gone through in the Arena? Peeta nearly _died_.” Katniss hisses.

“So have a lot of people.” Johanna responds harshly still grappling to keep Katniss’s fists from hitting her. A lot of people _have_ died. What makes bread boy so special?”

“You know what I’ve got to do, what Snow expects, what’s at stake. My family-”

“Aren’t here. We’re here. And we have to do what we can to survive the Arena so you can go back to your family. To Prim.”

“You can’t look at me like I’m betraying you.” Katniss’s voice breaks for a second and her hands rest for the barest moment against Johanna’s body. Not when I’m doing what I have to do. I don’t even know what side you’re on.”

“How can you ask me that?” Johanna breathes out.

“I made Haymitch promise-”

“Haymitch makes a lot of promises.” Johanna interrupts.

“Johanna I-” Katniss looks at Johanna and the older victor shifts uncomfortably under her gaze, unsure where she stands but meets Katniss’s stare head on, until the next words out of her mouth. “I’m sorry about Blight, I know that doesn’t change anything, but I am… and he must have… I can’t imagine what it would have been like for you. And with Wiress and Beetee-”

“I got them for you.” Johanna replies, staring back at Katniss who’s gaze flicks over Johanna and then the victor from Seven is moving away from Johanna, getting up and Johanna doesn’t know how to close the gap again.

“Come on,” Katniss says to Wiress, avoiding looking at Johanna as the older victor lays in the sand. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Tick tock tick tock.”

“What does Beetee have there?”

“The coil? It’s some kind of wire.” Johanna responds looking over at Katniss appraisingly, Katniss is standing awkwardly, looking somewhere between Johanna and Beetee and Johanna takes this interaction as an olive branch. At least Katniss is letting herself be near Johanna now. And considering how the rest of their relationship has played out maybe it’s kind of fitting that Katniss felt she had to straddle and punch Johanna for the cameras before they could talk normally.

Johanna is cleaning her axe while Katniss watches Wiress contemplatively. “Did he get it from the Cornucopia?”

“Took a knife in the back to get it. Luckily Brutus can’t throw for shit.”

Wiress gasps and starts excitedly chanting “Tick tock tick tock.”

 

Johanna looks at Katniss and starts to move closer but Katniss jerks back as though she’s been struck and shakes her head. Johanna narrows her eyes and Katniss glances across to where Peeta is with the others at the Cornucopia. The victors were picking over what weapons or items were still there. Johanna scoffed, even if bread boy was watching Katniss and Johanna he wouldn’t be able to see anything from where he was. Katniss was still caught up in playing the perfect girl from Twelve in love with the boy even while they were all in the Arena and Johanna was sick of it.

 

“I can’t.” Johanna sighs, “I just can’t. have fun with Nuts.”

 

Johanna walks off unable to be near Katniss while the victor from Twelve was still acting as though she was in love with Peeta for the Capitol cameras. At least Johanna hoped it was for the cameras. Johanna understood why Katniss would be more withdrawn from her in the Arena, but it hadn’t just started in the Arena Johanna had had the build-up of the 75th Games to hear all about what a lovely couple Katniss and Peeta made and how they acted with each other and who’s to say what’s real anymore? Panem knows the Capitol twists everything enough that half the people who live there have no idea. Hell, not just for the Capitol citizens, the last time Johanna saw Katniss Peeta had just announced they were expecting a baby and it’s not like Katniss said anything to the contrary there. Although it’s not like Johanna let her say anything during that interaction… The fear that it might be true had wormed its way into Johanna’s head during Twelves’ interview with Caesar and Peeta’s proposal. And Katniss wasn’t giving anything away, if she even knew herself what she wanted after all this time playing a part. Johanna remembered the holo of Katniss and Gale Snow had showed her, Katniss wanting to run and leave everyone. There were too many parts of the ‘girl on fire’ for Johanna to know who Katniss was now, and Katniss had closed herself off from Johanna again, they were right back where they started-worse even, at least before the 74th Games Johanna didn’t have to think about Katniss marrying Peeta. Meanwhile Nuts wasn’t helping matters, why Katniss had wanted them for allies was beyond her, Volts maybe but Nuts, Nuts was just that. Nuts. Johanna headed away from where Katniss and Nuts were huddled, back up the beach, contemplating whether to bother joining the others at the Cornucopia when the careers had surely already taken everything of worth when a fork of lightning strikes a large tree again.

 

“Tick tock.”

“Tick tock… it’s a clock! It’s a clock. Wiress you’re a genius!”

 

Johanna follows an excited Katniss across to the Cornucopia, both encouraging Wiress to swim across, although Johanna’s brand of encouragement caused Katniss to frown over at the victor from Seven. Katniss rushes over to the others and started to explain what Nuts had been trying to tell them. Supposedly anyway, Johanna still had her doubts Nuts was anything other than Nuts.

 

“This entire area seems to be laid out like a clock. With a new threat every hour but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning. Then the blood rain, fog, monkeys, that’s the first four hours. At ten that big wave hits from over there.” Katniss nods towards where the wave strikes the beach.

“Wiress you’re a genius.” Finnick exclaims. Johanna just rolls her eyes, looking over to where Wiress is sat perched on a rock a little away from the group muttering nursery rhymes to herself. Genius indeed.

“Where does the lightning strike?” Beetee checks with Katniss.

“That big tree.” Katniss points towards where she and Johanna saw the lightning hit.

“Good.” Beetee responds thoughtfully, staring at the tree.

“What about anything else? Did you guys see anything?”

“Only the blood and snow.” Johanna replies.

“It doesn’t matter.” Peeta interrupts. “As long as we steer clear of whatever sector is active.”

 

Wiress gasps and Johanna looks over and sees Gloss stood behind Wiress, a dagger in his hand. Before Johanna can move Gloss stabs Wiress, Katniss is on her feet, an arrow already flying towards Gloss. Johanna and the others are still taking in what happened when Gloss falls back into the water, eyes still open as though he can’t believe he’s dead. A scream breaks through the stunned silence and Johanna pushes Katniss out of the way and spins to gather momentum with her axe, shouting she hits Cashmere before she can take revenge against Katniss for the death of her brother.

 

The rest of the victors are blurs at this point, Johanna’s first blow struck Cashmere on the shoulder, deep red blood running down her arm and torso, but the cut seems to have angered the victor from One more than hindering her. Johanna is preoccupied with stepping back, and back, away and across, wary of Cashmere’s random knife slashes and the wild look in her eye. Cashmere isn’t playing this smart, Johanna knows how skilled she is with throwing knives but her anger at the loss of Gloss is muddying what the blonde victor should know. Johanna catches glimpses of the other victors as she dodges strikes, standing helpless watching her and Cashmere fight. Finnick has his trident half raised and an arrow is on Katniss’s bow, the two victors dance around each other on the rocky outcrop, both dodging in and out of each other’s space too often for Katniss of Finnick to get a clear shot. Johanna considers stepping back and letting Katniss finish off Cashmere the same as she had her brother but if Katniss was a second too late, or a hair off target Johanna would have backed herself into a corner and she didn’t like her odds with the fury Cashmere was currently using. Instead Johanna decides to let Cashmere fall from her own mistakes, Johanna takes care stepping over the rocky terrain while Cashmere rushes her, moving only across the shortest route to Johanna, every time Cashmere stumbles Johanna is there, her axe striking the blonde victor. A flurry of movement from the corner of her eye nearly distracts Johanna enough to take a blade to the stomach but Johanna twists away, seeing Brutus and Finnick are now engaged in a fight. Brutus’s spear successfully locking into Finnick’s trident’s prongs and twisting the weapon safely away from the victor from Two, an arrow tings off the Cornucopia and Johanna thinks she sees Enobaria in the mix but can’t be sure Cashmere is slowing now, she’s stumbling more and Johanna moves up from the glancing safer strikes and in a burst of quick twists and turns Cashmere is falling backwards, joining her brother in the water of the Arena.

 

Johanna turns to face the others and sees Brutus fleeing, Finnick is holding Peeta back from chasing after the victor from Two but no one is there to do the same for Katniss who takes off after Brutus, following him down the rocky walkway. Johanna immediately breaks into a run, chasing after Katniss and Brutus. The rocky island the Cornocopia is on suddenly starts moving, Katniss and Johanna fall to the floor Johanna grabbing at rocks as the island picks up speed and spins. Johanna’s eyes find Katniss and the victor from Seven sighs in relief when she sees Katniss is also clinging onto the rocks. Then the island picks up speed. Waves crash against the rocks and Johanna can barely see past the stinging spray but she keeps her eyes trained on Katniss, and she catches the moment the younger victor starts to slip. Katniss’s eyes lift and meet Johanna’s in a panic as Katniss slides from the rock. Johanna screams out and lets go, sliding towards Katniss, the rocks are still spinning but Johanna keeps her gaze locked on Katniss and grabs her wrist, quickly scrambling for purchase on the rocks to stop both of them slipping into the thrashing water. Katniss’s body is pulling on Johanna and Johanna’s fingers are slipping from the outcrop she managed to grab but Johanna can’t think of anything other than not letting Katniss go. Katniss finds another hold closer to the edge but the force of the revolving island is pulling at her and Johanna can see Katniss slipping from the rock she is clinging to. Johanna lets go of her hold and slams her axe into the rocks, pulling against the push of centrifuge, holding on to Katniss with everything she has. Katniss looks up at her and Johanna can see her eyes wide with fear as Johanna is all that stops her from falling into the rush of the unknown waters below them. Johanna’s grip on Katniss’s wrist slips

 

“No!” No!” Johanna cries out unable to stop Katniss from falling backwards, losing sight of the younger victor behind the spray of water.

 

Johanna is frozen motionless staring at the water for what seems like an eternity hoping for a glimpse of Katniss so she knows where to head towards. Abruptly the island stops spinning, only taking a few turns to slow down before it returns to stationary. Katniss climbs onto a spoke of the rocky outcrop and Johanna rushes to her, pulling her up onto the walkway and helping the coughing Katniss to stand.

 

The others rush over to where Johanna is watching over Katniss. “Are you okay?” Peeta asks idiotically. Johanna stands and watches as Peeta helps Katniss to her feet.

“Let’s just get what we need and get off this bloody island.” Johanna says turning away from Katniss and Peeta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unsure about this chapter… but I know it’s been forever, so I’m sorry. I have no excuse other than I'm a shit.   
> Some of their conversations are taken straight from the book/film, some I’ve changed slightly to fit in better with this version of the story. Some is just plain made up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shut the front door, an update in the SAME MONTH as the previous one?!

Beetee was still out of breath from the swim back to the beach after they left the Cornucopia, the group were sat staring at what used to mean safety-well, relative to where they were anyway. Whoever had the Cornucopia had the best weapons and tools in the Arena. But it now had become yet another hazard for the Gamemakers to use against them. Johanna listened to the waves hitting the beach, the ebb and flow of the tide seemingly benign and soothing now, but as with everything in the Arena it was manufactured by the Capitol and could be used as a weapon as easily as any blade in the hands of a career. Johanna closed her eyes and let her head fall back, listening to the sound of the waves.

 

“I’m going to miss her.” Peeta said, breaking the almost peaceful silence. Johanna opened her eyes only to roll them, bread boy had barely spoken to Wiress, what did he know about Nuts?

“The Capitol has taken a lot from us.” Finnick said testing the points of his trident, “but we’re still here.”

“Yeah, well I lost one of my axes when the Cornucopia started spinning, that was more useful than Nuts ever was.”

“And I suppose that you also lost Blight during that fight is inconsequential too? _Wiress_ was a good person, she helped us figure out the Arena which will prove more useful than anything you’ve done.” Beetee quickly replies with more emotion than Johanna has ever seen him have.

“If I hadn’t kept you two alive, to Blight’s cost, she wouldn’t have had the chance to figure out the Arena. Blades are more important than brains when we’re fighting while the Capitol watch.”

“You’re heartless.” Beetee replied flatly, looking over to the Cornucopia where they had lost Wiress.

“I don’t see the point in mourning something while we still have to fight.” Replies Johanna, her eyes on Katniss and Peeta sitting together.

“So, besides Brutus and Enobaria who’s left?” Katniss changes the subject.

“Maybe Chaff.” Peeta replies, “just those three.”

“They know they’re outnumbered. I doubt they’ll attack again. We’re safe here on the beach.”

Johanna looks to Katniss “So what do we do, hunt them down?”

Katniss looks up, meeting Johanna’s eyes, but before Katniss has a chance to say anything a scream cuts through the forest followed by a familiar voice that Johanna didn’t ever expect to hear in an Arena. “Katniss! Help me!”

“Prim! Prim!” Katniss jumps to her feet and rushes into the trees shouting for Prim the whole time.

“Wait! Katniss, wait!”

 

Johanna and the others race after the victor from Twelve, Johanna cursing this new trick of the Gamemakers, and that Katniss’s disregard for anything -including her own safety- other than Prim is driving her into danger once again.

 

Johanna catches up to Katniss in time to see her shooting a bird from the sky. Finnick reaching Katniss first, “Katniss, are you okay?”

Before Johanna can say anything another scream rips through the sky, “Fiiiniick!!” and Finnick is off,

“Finnick, Finnick no.” Katniss shouts after the quickly retreating victor.

“Annie, Annie.”

Katniss races after Finnick and Johanna curses and follows further into the jungle, losing sight of the other two victors in the thick undergrowth. Johanna can hear Katniss trying to calm Finnick down, to stop him from running into the unknown. “It’s not her, it’s just a jabberjay, it’s not her.”

“Well how do you think they got that sound?” Finnick asks turning to face Katniss, Johanna can see the fear in Finnick’s eyes and knows his usual carefully maintained playboy mask has no chance of staying while he thinks Annie is in danger. “Jabberjays copy.”

 

The two victors disappear into the jungle again and Johanna follows the sound of Katniss and Finnick, Johanna can hear a cacophony of jabberjays somewhere ahead but she can’t distinguish any particular voices amongst the birds all screaming for help. The jabberjays disorient Johanna, she isn’t sure where to head to catch up with Finnick and Katniss, unable to hear them over the shrieking birds. Johanna pauses, listening in vain for Katniss before heading back to find the others, knowing it would be easier to track down one group instead of two. And Panem knows how well Bread boy and Volts would survive alone in the Arena. Besides, a small voice in the back of Johanna’s head wonders whether they would even bother to look for her if she were by herself. Johanna quickly finds Beetee and Peeta who are looking around at the trees looking lost, before Johanna can say anything the sound of something tearing through the jungle towards them and rushing wings has Johanna moving in front of Pitta bread and Volts. Johanna hefts her axe in her hand but then spots Katniss and Finnick running towards them, the jabberjays pecking and scratching at the two victors as they run. Johanna can see the moment Katniss spots them between the flapping wings of the jabberjays and her own arms thrown over her head to shield herself from their pecks and scratches. Katniss quickly changes direction and her eyes fix onto Johanna’s as she runs towards her- then hits an invisible barrier.

 

Peeta is shouting “Stop Katniss, it’s okay, they’re just mutts. It’s not real.” But the sounds the jabberjays are making are muted for them and Johanna doubts Katniss can even hear Peeta through the barrier and the crying of the jabberjays.

 

Johanna watches, hating that she can’t touch her, hating that once again she’s separated from Katniss, a literal barrier between them while Katniss’s attention is focussed on bread boy. The birds crash into the barrier and Katniss drops to her knees, hands over her ears. Johanna can only watch along with the others until the hour is up. Throughout it all Peeta stays next to a huddled Katniss pressed against the barrier, Johanna paces the wall like a caged animal and even Beetee tries to calm her down. Eventually the barrier drops and the birds stop. Katniss and Finnick stagger across the invisible border of the segment, both of them still looking scared and broken after what they had to listen to.

 

“Your fiancée’s right.” Johanna watches the flash of Katniss’s eyes as Johanna’s words register. “They wouldn’t touch your sister; the whole country loves her. Forget the Districts there would be riots in the damn Capitol.” Katniss holds Johanna’s gaze and Johanna sees the hope and relief flit across them. Johanna grins at Katniss and then looks up and shouts, “Hey, how does that sound Snow? What if we set _your_ backyard on fire? You know you can’t put _everybody_ in here!” Johanna thinks of the people in her life she’s cared for. Loved. Her family, Katniss. Blight. Victims of Snow, the road to their deaths paved by broken promises from Snow. And Katniss is with Peeta, refusing to drop the act. Johanna turns back to the others and sees Finnick and Katniss staring at her in shock. “What?” Johanna says quietly looking at Katniss. “He can’t hurt me. There’s no one left I love.” Katniss just stares at Johanna until the older victor can’t take it anymore. “I’ll get you some water.” And Johanna turns away, hitting plants unnecessarily with her axe as she passes them.

Johanna fills a conch with water she collects from the spire and takes it back to Katniss, coming up behind the victor from Twelve Johanna rattles the arrows in Katniss’s quiver causing her to startle and spin around. Johanna doesn’t say anything, just passes over the water. “Thank you.” Katniss says softly, taking the shell from Johanna. For once Peeta isn’t crowding round Katniss and Johanna sits down next to her. “Who’s Annie?”

“Annie Cresta. The girl Mags volunteered for. She won four, five, years ago.”

“Is she the one who’s a little…”

“Mhm.” Johanna nods. “Love is weird.” Johanna can see Katniss watching her from the corner of her eye as she rakes at the ground with her axe. Katniss looks as though she’s about to say something but Beetee approaches, clamping Katniss’s mouth shut.

“I have a plan.”

“Odair.” Finnick and Peeta look up at Johanna’s shout and both come over.

“Where will the careers feel safest, the jungle?”

“The jungle’s a nightmare.” Finnick replies, “here on the beach.”

“So why aren’t they here?”

“Because we are. We’ve claimed it.” Johanna interrupts.

“And if we left would they come?”

“Or stay hidden in the treeline.”

“Which in just over four hours will be soaked in water from the ten o’clock wave. What happens at midnight?”

“Lightning strikes the tree.” Katniss answers.

“Here’s what I propose, we leave at dusk, we head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Right at midnight we run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water, or on the damp sand, will be electrocuted.”

Johanna is sick of Beetee’s plans and how he talks like he’s teaching a class and asks, a little antagonistically, “How do we know the wire’s not going to burn up?”

“Because I invented it. I assure you it won’t burn up.”

Johanna exchanges a look with Finnick before looking back to Beetee, “Well it’s better than hunting them down.”

“Yeah, why not.” Katniss agrees, “If it fails no harm done anyway right?”

“Then I say we try it.” Johanna rolls her eyes at Peeta interrupting when it’s basically already been decided, claiming something with his approval, just like he did with Katniss back in his first interview.

“Anything we can do to help?” Finnick asks.

“Keep me alive for the next six hours. That would be extremely helpful.”

* * *

 

Johanna and Beetee are sat together on the beach, Johanna watches Finnick standing in the shallows, twirling his trident in graceful motions. Johanna looks over to where Katniss and Peeta are huddled together and makes brief eye contact with Katniss before the victor from Twelve looks down.

 

“I wonder what they have to talk about,” muses Beetee, “It’s not like they know the plan. Of course my part is sound. My time in the Arena has shown how my plans can be relied upon.”

Johanna thinks back to Beetee’s last idea which ended in Blight being left dead on the ground. “Yeah, your plans are always fused with success.” Johanna gets up from where she was sat, not confident that she would be able to stay near Beetee and not give in to the desire to punch the victor, and storms over to Finnick. “I’m sick of being in the dark. I think I’ve proved I’m on your side. I’m not going to agree to help with another of Volts’ plans unless I know we have somewhere safe to go after.”

“Well if we take out all the careers the Arena will be much safer.” Finnick replied casually. Johanna glared at Finnick unimpressed and Finnick sighed. “I do wish Haymitch wasn’t so secretive, it would have been much easier to let you know before we got in here. Of course, you’re almost as bad as Katniss with not thinking things through…”

Johanna raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Finnick, “still waiting Odair.”

Finnick looks around “We know how the Capitol are with their cameras. Eyes everywhere.” Johanna touches the skin on her arm where the Capitol embedded the tracker when they entered the Arena and Finnick nods. Finnick lifts his trident into Johanna’s eyeline and starts to slowly move the weapon, the end of the handle dragging on the sand under the shallow waves. The water obscures any message in the sand before it can be understood so Johanna watches the end of the trident more than the sand being disturbed. Watches Finnick gazing out across the water as he sweeps his trident to draw out a number thirteen. Johanna raises her eyebrows and looks up at Finnick who’s still staring out across the water.

“But how-”

“Trust, Johanna. I know it doesn’t come easy to you, but if you want a chance you’ll follow along with Beetee’s plan.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Johanna replies distractedly her gaze drifting to Katniss who is fussing over Peeta.

Johanna can feel Finnick’s eyes studying her as she watches Katniss and Peeta. “Forcefields seem to be cropping up all over, me and Katniss were kept apart from the rest of you by one, Peeta hit one. It’s lucky Beetee knows a thing or two about them. The careers aren’t the only barrier to us getting out of here.” Finnick says casually but his gaze is intent. Johanna rolls her eyes at Finnick, her mind whirring as she puts together the pieces. “Oh, you should have seen her yesterday when he ran into the forcefield.” Finnick continues, “she was distraught. I didn’t believe she actually cared about him until then. I thought this whole star-crossed lovers’ thing was just a story before that.” Johanna scowls at Finnick who just grins, “sorry, I mean the star-crossed lovers the Capitol know about.”

“You really are an ass Odair.”

“Put away your murder eyes Johanna, you’ve barely even had time to form a bond.”

“Don’t tell me what stage our bond is in. Besides, I doubt with how Cresta is yours is anything to write home about.”

“It’s not really that magical thing the Capitol make stories about you know. Just because we’re marked for each other doesn’t make it easy, or simple. You know that, you know that probably more than most.” Finnick grins wryly at Johanna. “She helps me and I help her. It’s hard to explain but there’s something there, something connecting us. Something more. And I know that you two wouldn’t be acting the way you are if you had done that.

“I know you’re all about collecting secrets, but discussing soulmate bonds is low even for you Finnick.”

“I know it’s not something we generally talk about -unless you’re about to go into the Arena and want to concoct some doomed lovers’ narrative like Peeta. But our lives aren’t exactly private, and it’s not like we have a huge amount of time left.” Johanna is silent. “So, I’m guessing the bond’s not fully formed?” asks Finnick.

“Does it look like it is.” Johanna turns to Finnick anger clear in her eyes.

“Can you blame her for how she’s acting? She’s got the whole world on her shoulders. Her family’s safety rests on what she does. You might not have anyone Jo, but she isn’t you. Hell, she entered the previous Games to save her sister, do you think she’s turned any less self-sacrificing since then?” Johanna glares at Finnick “I know it must be hard for-”

“You don’t.” Johanna cuts Finnick off.

“Did you ever think it wasn’t just her family she’s protecting? That she’s doing it for you too? What would the Capitol do if they suddenly saw you breaking up their golden couple?”

Johanna turns away from Finnick, her eyes drawn to search out Katniss and sees Katniss and Peeta entwined on the beach, Katniss kissing bread boy. Johanna moves without thinking, “All right lovebirds!” Johanna shouts causing Katniss to jolt back from Peeta, Peeta glances over to see if there was a reason Johanna caught their attention then looks away awkwardly from Johanna while Katniss looks everywhere but at Johanna.

 

Johanna can’t help but think over what Finnick said, okay, Katniss barely has a choice in how she’s acting, but that doesn’t change how Johanna feels every time she has to watch them interact for the cameras, and either Katniss has gotten better at acting or there’s something between the victors from Twelve. Maybe if Johanna could do something to protect Katniss’s family they wouldn’t be in this mess, but Katniss doesn’t trust her over Peeta to keep her safe-the whole pregnancy-proposal debacle is testament to that. And maybe worst of all Johanna is upset that she _can’t_ keep Katniss safe. That Peeta -no matter how much she despises bread boy, has probably done the best thing for Katniss with his proposal and baby announcement. He definitely swayed the Capitol public the most during Caesar’s interviews. And Johanna had to ask Peeta to get Haymitch to save Katniss first in the Arena. Haymitch had wanted Peeta over Katniss, said the boy would be better, easier to control, more predictable. Johanna isn’t sure if Katniss is buying into her and Peeta’s ‘love story’ or has realised it’s futile to try and appease the Capitol now that they’re back in the Arena. But with Peeta’s accident with the force field and his near drowning at the start of the Games Johanna can see Katniss cares for him. Maybe even loves him. So where does that leave her?

* * *

 

Night falls. The group have been moving towards the tree for the past few hours when the beginning notes of the Capitol’s tone breaks the quiet and Cashmere and Gloss’s faces look down from the sky. Then Wiress’s picture appears. Mags. Telkes and Mai. Blight. Liobam. Chaff. Johanna looks away, the group turning away from the projections in silence and continue walking without a word. The list of the dead disappearing from sight and with that likely from the Capitol’s thoughts. The dead tributes in the normal Games never stayed in the Capitol’s minds for long after they died, maybe a particularly spectacular death would be talked about for a few days, but once a victor was found no one thought of the dead children aside from their families, or the Districts where they had come from. The other Districts either glad one of their tributes survived or hoping that no one they knew would be reaped the next year. But this year the Games was full of victors, and they had died just as easily as anyone else. And for all the attention and praise the Capitol had shown them through the years Johanna doubted anyone would care to remember them now they were gone.

 

Eventually they make it to the tree. The giant trunk dwarves the trees around it, even if they didn’t know about the lightning hitting the tree it would stand out amongst the others. Branches hang down from the canopy, some from the tree itself some from ivy climbing all over the tree, strangling it and turning it half-dead. Of course, that could be the lightning Johanna thinks.

 

“Minimal charring.” Beetee mutters to himself, peering at the tree. “Good conductor. Let’s get started.” Beetee starts wrapping the wire around the trunk. “Typically, a lightning strike carries five billion joules of energy. We don’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits.” Beetee hands the wire to Katniss and Johanna, Katniss glances at Johanna and away. Johanna can’t ignore Katniss’s reluctance to be paired with her, the victor from Twelve almost looks panicked that she has to do this with Johanna. “Take this. Unspool it carefully, make sure the entire coil is in the water, you understand? Then head to the tree, we’ll meet you there.”

“I’m gonna go with them, as a guard.” Johanna’s head snaps up at Peeta’s comment. It’s one thing that bread boy has managed to protect Katniss from the Capitol, probably more out of luck than any real plan or cunning, but in the Arena Johanna is more than capable of watching out for Katniss.

“No. no, no, no you’re staying here to protect me and the tree.”

“No, I need to go with her.” Peeta argues.

“There are two careers out there, I need two guards.” Beetee calmly replies.

“Finnick can protect you just fine on his own.”

“Why can’t Finnick and Johanna stay with you and Peeta and I will go with the coil.” Katniss suggests.

“You all agreed to keep me alive until midnight, correct?”

Johanna cuts in, her voice barely betrays the hurt and annoyance she feels at Katniss’s words. “It’s _his_ plan. We all agreed to it.”

“Is there a problem here?” Finnick asks.

“Excellent question.” Beetee looks at Katniss expectantly who just stares back.

“No, there’s no problem.” Katniss replies after a tense silence. Katniss walks up to Peeta and kisses him. Johanna feels her stomach roll and she can’t help the surge of hatred she feels in that moment towards bread boy. “See you at midnight.”

“All right. Let’s go!” Johanna says a little too loudly for the still night around them, Johanna had already turned from the display of affection between Katniss and Peeta and walked a little away. Katniss catches up to the older victor in silence and the two move back towards the beach, trailing the wire as they walk. Johanna holds out a hand to help Katniss over the larger rocks without saying a word. A few times Johanna thinks Katniss is about to say something to break the charged silence between them but she never does.

 

There are a few reasons that Johanna can see as to why Beetee sent Katniss and herself off together, he doesn’t trust the two victors from Twelve not to betray the tentative alliance they have formed, Johanna knows Katniss isn’t bloodthirsty, everyone she has killed has been in retaliation for saving the lives of others, be it Prim right at the start in the last Games that set these events in motion or protecting her friends or herself. If anything, Katniss would leave because she didn’t want to kill the others. But why she would think Finnick would attack them Johanna doesn’t know, and Johanna hopes Katniss has never thought Johanna might turn against her in the Arena. Not for the first time Johanna wishes Haymitch had been more forthcoming with the plan back before everyone was carted into the Arena. Katniss doesn’t know any of the specifics, Johanna barely knows them, only what was hinted at and she pieced together. But if Beetee’s plan works now’s the time for Haymitch to come. Katniss can’t be trusted to save herself when she has the chance, she volunteered for this and if she suspects Peeta isn’t safe Johanna doesn’t trust Katniss to leave him in the Arena. So Johanna isn’t leaving this to chance. She can’t ensure she leaves with Katniss but she can make sure Katniss lives.

 

After walking almost half way to the beach Johanna can’t take the silence anymore, “You know, I know about you and Peeta sleeping together-”

“No, we didn’t.” Katniss interrupts immediately.

Johanna grinds her teeth “Now that’s a lie, I heard from the stylists that you two were found in bed together and you _know_ I know this.”

“Oh. Yeah. But we weren’t…”

“Then Peeta says you’re pregnant. After he _proposes._ which apparently was _your_ idea. So, forgive me for not knowing where I stand with you Katniss.”

Katniss glares at Johanna, “I can’t believe you’d even bring that up.”

“Still not hearing a denial here.”

“I want you to trust me!”

“Trust that you’d fight for us? That you’d stay around for me?” Johanna asks angrily, not caring what the Capitol will broadcast of this conversation, what Snow will see. “’Cause I gotta tell you, so far the evidence is to the contrary on that count.”

“What are you talking about?” Katniss sighs out exasperated.

“Snow showed me the vid.” Johanna says watching Katniss’s exasperated/annoyed expression for any flicker of guilt or realisation but Katniss either has no clue what Johanna is talking about or she’s a much better actor than her previous Games and interviews would have Johanna believe. “Of you and Gale. When my attention was always on bread boy I forgot about your ‘cousin’ back in Twelve.”

“That wasn’t what that was… I know it doesn’t look like it… I- back then I wouldn’t have left you.”

“Back then?” So now, what? You would?”

“That’s not what I mean,” Katniss breathes out exasperated, “I’m no good at this-” Katniss gestures between the two of them,

“Like I am?” Johanna interrupts scoffing.

“I didn’t know what would happen between us, what you wanted, I was overwhelmed with what was happening, with the tour and Snow and then the Games-”

“That’s bull Katniss. You knew exactly what I wanted. But you give me nothing, no sign or-”

“I can’t act how I would like!” Katniss shouts before realising where they are and lowering her voice again, glaring at Johanna as if this is her fault. “There’s too many people at risk.”

“Don’t I matter too? When are you going to start living for yourself?”

“Easy for you to say, you don’t have anyone you love anymore. You told us that yourself! Why should I risk everyone- when you don’t even…” Katniss trails off, seemingly unable to meet Johanna’s eyes anymore.  

Johanna is silent as if Katniss struck her. “That’s not strictly true.” Johanna says softly.

Katniss looks up at Johanna, the younger victor’s face more open than Johanna has seen it since they had come back to the Capitol. “Jo…”

 

“Come on, I want to put as much distance between us and the beach as possible. Frying is _not_ how I want to go.” Johanna says impatiently striding ahead from Katniss, wiping at her eyes to see better in the dim light of the Arena.

 

Katniss follows Johanna carrying the spool of wire when it catches on something, Katniss’s exasperated huff causes Johanna to turn around and watch as the younger victor pulls harder on the spool, but the wire doesn’t budge. The wire suddenly snaps and Brutus rises up over the rocks. Katniss reaches for an arrow but before she can put it to her bow Johanna is moving. Johanna knows Katniss, the younger victor won’t leave anyone she cares about in danger, and she certainly won’t leave the Arena if she gets the chance. Johanna hits Katniss in the back of the head with a rock, wincing as Katniss drops to the floor, the two of them now hidden from Brutus. Katniss moves and groans, Johanna works quickly, cutting out the tracker in Katniss’s arm. Katniss screams as the axe bites into her flesh, Johanna shushes her, covering Katniss’s mouth with her hand. Katniss bites down on Johanna’s hand, her eyes wide and panicked, filled with shock as Johanna wipes Katniss’s own blood across her neck.

 

“Stay. Down.” Johanna mutters to Katniss, trying to put as much force behind the words as she can, hoping that Katniss listens for once. “they’re not getting you too.” Johanna says intently after holding Katniss’s confused gaze with her own determined brown eyes.

 

Johanna can see Brutus has been joined by Enobaria, the two of them advancing cautiously over the rocks, looking for Katniss and Johanna. Johanna stands up focusing the victors from Two’s attention on her and throws her last axe at Brutus. The axe hits a rock, clattering harmlessly to the side. Enobaria’s sharpened teeth glint in the half-light and Johanna swears before taking off, running to the side, drawing them away from Katniss. Johanna hears Finnick shouting for her as she runs from the careers, but the only thought in her head is the hope that Katniss has the sense to stay hidden. Johanna can hear the victors from Two behind her, closing in. Johanna starts to slow, the last thing she wants is for the careers to decide to go back and look for Katniss. But the decrease in speed must have been what Brutus was waiting for because the next thing Johanna knows is she’s sprawled in the dirt, a spear embedded into her leg. Johanna cries out as the weight of the spear pushes the leaf blade further into her flesh. Johanna quickly looks behind her, Brutus and Enobaria are still a little way away. Johanna twists, wincing as the change in position causes the spear to move again. Johanna grabs the spear and grits her teeth but can’t help but shout out as she pulls the spear from her calf.

 

Johanna uses the spear to get to her feet, wincing as she tests putting her weight on the injured leg. Blood flows from the wound, quickly staining the wetsuit. The careers are almost upon her and Johanna knows she doesn’t stand a chance to outrun them now. On the plus side Brutus has just given her a weapon, it’s not an axe but it’ll do. Johanna moves into a better position and braces for Brutus’s attack. Johanna raises the spear as Brutus closes looking as though he is about to tackle Johanna but Enobaria dances in to the side, her sword flashing through the air and Johanna hurriedly moves the spear to block the blow. The movement unbalances Johanna and she stumbles, when her head lifts Brutus’s fist is heading for her face. The blow knocks her head to the side and Johanna steps back, doing her best to ignore the fire in her leg as she moves away from the careers. Enobaria closes in and lets loose with a burst of sword strikes that has Johanna and Brutus moving away from the victor from Two.

 

“Pity’s sake ‘Baria watch where you’re sticking that thing.” Brutus grumbled as he had to abandon his planned attack on Johanna and move away to evade another of Enobaria’s fast strikes.

 

Johanna wasn’t so lucky; the spear was longer and heavier than the axes she was more used to and every step on her leg lost her more blood and only gave pain in return. Johanna had managed to stop most of Enobaria’s attacks but first one slid down the spear slicing open the knuckles on Johanna’s hand where she held the weapon to block the sword then after Enobaria laughed as she dodged a clumsy strike from Johanna a flick from her sword opened up a long slice in Johanna’s arm before she realised the sword had even come close to her.

 

“You’re not usually worried about sticking things Brutus, Johanna can attest to that.” Enobaria replied mockingly, her sword held in front of her as she circled Johanna.

“I do have a little more taste than that.” Johanna replies, cursing at the breathlessness of her voice as she thrust the spear towards Enobaria.

“Not what I’ve heard.”

 

Brutus starts punching Johanna’s torso, Johanna can’t keep blocking Enobaria while Brutus is hitting her. Johanna swings the spear in desperation, making both the careers jump back from the blade as it flashes in front of them. Enobaria laughs at Johanna’s attempt, her pointed teeth inches from Johanna as Enobaria takes advantage of Johanna’s heavy-handed attack ending with the spear pointed uselessly to the side and down, stepping in close, using her body to prevent Johanna from pulling the long spear back round to protect herself. Enobaria almost hugs Johanna but instead of her arms Johanna feels the sting of the victor’s sword slicing into her side. Johanna staggers backwards and Enobaria dances away, her eyes glinting as she lets Johanna bring the spear back around uselessly swinging it at the other victor.

 

Brutus laughs at the sight, “It takes a bit of practice to handle something that powerful. It’s a shame you tossed your axes too soon.”

“I’ve heard that’s something else that you know about.” Johanna taunts back

Enobaria laughs at that and Johanna manages to cut the career, the spear slicing into Enobaria’s cheek and down to her shoulder. Enobaria stops laughing suddenly, snarling “Bitch” at Johanna the older woman lets her anger direct her sword. Pushing Johanna further and further back, Johanna can see the path Enobaria has pushed her in her blood smeared along the ground, darkening the dirt.

“You’re not going to take long, then we’ll see where that wire led to, I’m betting there’ll be a bunch of scared little victors at the end of the string.” Brutus jeers.

“And if we don’t find the girl on fire’s body maybe she’ll be there too-”

 

Enobaria didn’t get to finish her sentence before Johanna was stepping towards her, the spear held at Johanna’s waist, the blood-stained blade pointing up at Enobaria. Johanna attacks and she knows she has struck home when Enobaria cries out, Johanna presses her advantage but a blow from behind causes her to stagger and Enobaria backs away. Now Johanna isn’t focused on Enobaria Johanna realises her attack on the other victor wasn’t without consequences, her wetsuit is split open at the collar, a deep wound threading across Johanna’s collarbone and shoulder, her wrist and neck are also bleeding now but Johanna’s eyes are on Enobaria who is bleeding heavily too. Brutus uses Johanna’s inattention to grab the spear, grinning at Johanna as the two hold onto the weapon, Enobaria moves in from the side, her sword raised and eyes filled with rage and Johanna drops the spear. Johanna ducks low and kicks at the back of Brutus’s leg. Brutus yells and falls to one knee, the spear limp in his grip. Johanna pulls at the spear, leaning away and using her momentum to help her combat Brutus’s size as she wrestles the spear away from the larger victor. Johanna swings the spear around, Enobaria is slowing now, her sword dropping to hang listlessly at her side, Brutus’s attention is on Enobaria.

 

Johanna presses her advantage and Brutus’s distraction, lifting the spear Johanna rushes at Brutus. Johanna has been ignoring the wound on her leg as best she can but the pain causes Johanna to stumble before she reaches the victor from Two, Johanna panics she has miscalculated as Brutus turns to face her. Johanna brings the spear forward as she leans into her fall, her weight and the spear pushing into Brutus. Johanna is on the ground with the larger victor, she can vaguely hear Enobaria saying something increasingly louder to the side but Johanna’s whole attention is on Brutus. The victor’s hands scramble at her skin, reaching up and wrapping around Johanna’s neck. Johanna kicks and punches at the larger victor who has moved over her, the fingers around her neck loosen and Johanna sucks in gulps of air, renewing her attempts to get Brutus off of her. Then Brutus coughs and blood dribbles from his mouth, the larger victor pales and that’s when Johanna notices the spear had hit home and Brutus’s side is rapidly darkening as blood rushes from the spear embedded in his body.

 

Johanna kicks away from Brutus, his blood mixing with hers on the ground, turning the dry earth into a red mud. The cannon booms and Johanna looks up at Enobaria who’s teeth are bared as the older victor glares down at her. Johanna doesn’t think she can reach for the spear again, the loss of blood and the pain spreading all over her body is making it hard to even get to her feet. Johanna steels herself and pushes up only to fall. Johanna looks down at the body that is now betraying her, her leg is covered under blood and mud, the wound in her side is deeper now, blood freely pouring from it and Johanna can barely move her injured shoulder, the whole arm on that side is numb and Johanna doubts she could use her hand to grip the spear even if she could reach it. Enobaria still hasn’t moved closer to Johanna and Johanna realises the spear wound she inflicted on the victor from Two was more lethal than she had first thought.

 

“You were fun.” Enobaria says, trying for unaffected but Johanna can hear the wheeze in her voice and thinks the spear may have punctured a lung. Johanna tries to keep her eyes on the last remaining career in the Arena but everything hurts and while the ground around her darkens with her blood she can feel her grip on consciousness fading. Johanna hears the storm start from where she lies beaten and bloody, the first forks of lightning streak across the sky then the sky lights up with something greater than the lightning, it looks like fire is fighting the sky. Johanna realises it was an explosion when the ceiling of the Arena flickers, the forcefield becoming visible as it falls. And Johanna sees the roof of the Arena for what it is, they didn’t even let them have a sky, Blight died under a metal dome. in a cage.

 

It’s getting harder to breathe, Enobaria is nowhere to be seen, probably off to tend to her injury, now the forcefield in the Arena has broken there’s no telling what the older victor will do. Or she maybe didn’t see the point in expending any more energy on Johanna. Johanna closes her eyes and hopes Katniss is out. That the others are out. It’s harder to open her eyes now, the light seems too harsh and Johanna’s vision is blurring. A large shadow falls over her and Johanna’s fingers twitch, searching for a weapon that isn’t there. The shadow lengthens and Johanna can make out something metallic coming towards her, a hovercraft. Haymitch must have managed it. Johanna exhales in relief. They’re out. They won. Johanna winces as the hovercraft picks her up, her eyes slipping shut as the metallic arm raises her towards the body of the craft. Before Johanna can catch a glimpse of a Haymitch, no doubt wearing that annoying smirk of his now that his plan has come to fruition, or a smug Beetee. Or Katniss. Katniss. Johanna slips into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the point when I think ‘shit I’ve not explained anything about the plan to Johanna at all.’ Or really mentioned that this is a soulmate au, which I definitely planned to, you know, mention. kindaaa intended that to be in for a reason.  
> I thought this would be 15-20k at most but I clearly have a tendency to drag everything out. Including updates. Sorry again for all those long waits. I swear I have the best of intentions for the next...
> 
> So this is the end of CF. And a happy time was had by all.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone’s interested in betaing or letting me bounce some ideas off of them let me know, I’m also on tumblr at perytonsshadow.


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